K. Male'
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12 Oct 2020 | Mon 18:00
Ministry of Finance building
Ministry of Finance building
Yoosuf Sofwan Rasheed
State outstanding balance
State outstanding balance provided by gov't, inaccurate, audit reveals
Authenticity of the over MVR 164 million provided, has not been guaranteed
Two audit reports were received by the parliament
Outstanding balances from finance ministry and institutions, do not add up
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The state outstanding balance figures provided to financial institutions by the government does not add up.

This was revealed through one of the two audit reports received by the People’s Majlis during Monday’s sitting.

As such, the audit report on state guarantees reveal that there are inconsistencies in the state outstanding balance provided by the Ministry of Finance and the financing bodies.

The validity of the MVR 164،564،083 million remaining as state outstanding balance by December 31, 2018 has not been verified, the audit reveals.

Nasheed went on to reveal that issues regarding the maintenance of loans was noticed, while it is mandated under the guideline for the issuance of state guarantees to update the status of projects conducted under the guaranteed loans every once in four months, to the Ministry of Finance.

Issues were noticed with two guaranteed loans, which the treasury (MOFT) has terminated.

Under the guarantee agreement, if a bank agreement is nullified, it is required to be submitted to treasury. However, Nasheed noted that the ministry has not been informed of the two terminated guarantees.

The two guarantees in question, are the USD 327.8 million issued to Oztark Holdings on August 22, 2016 for the development of 5,000 social housing units in Hulhumalé. The second one was USD 65.2 million issued to We With Nature Lanka Investment Private Limited on November 29, the same year for the development of 1,000 social housing units in Phase Two of Hulhumalé.

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