MBABANE – A Ministry of Health internal report has exposed how varying collected revenue from the Mbabane Government Hospital is allegedly being embezzled by some officers in the accounts department.
This was after an investigating team consisting of three members was appointed by the then Principal Secretary (PS) in the Health Ministry, Doctor Simon Zwane, to carry out a department preliminary investigation on the alleged serious misconduct and embezzlement of funds by some employees under the accounts department.
The investigations were instituted after it emerged that some officers were allegedly depositing less revenue in the government bank account collected through sale of tickets at the Mbabane Government Hospital. This, according to the report, was done without the treasury department noticing any abnormalities, hence some officers from this department were interviewed.
The findings of the investigating team revealed that the officers in question tempered with the Central Bank deposit slips, whereby they would deposit E600 for the day’s banking with the bank teller (Eswatini Central Bank) then upon submission to revenue department, would add a zero on the hospital deposit slip, editing the amount to E6 000. They would allegedly then take the difference (E6 000 – E600) of E5 400 for themselves.
Through reconciliation, it was noted that for the month of May 2022, an amount of E7 800 and E5 000 from TR 157 (general receipts for sundries any services that charges more than E10 e.g in-patient discharge, medical forms) was recorded. It is stated that the accused officers would often use TR1 (E20 for late entry, after-before hours and holidays) and TR2 (E5 for X-ray).
The report further revealed key points that the officers would allegedly fetch tickets from treasury-revenue, then sign for them on the vote book where there are also records tickets. These officers, it is alleged, each have a ledger book, where they record every ticket sold and further classifying them.
Abnormalities
When banking using TF 105, it is stated that Rands and Emalangeni currencies are banked separately. There were abnormalities noted by the investigators whereby there was a surplus of E2 000 on TR4 (E10 for hospital admission) and an unaccountable amount shortfall of E20 000 from TR1. It is noted that ticket sequences that were not balancing were from TR1 and TR4 mostly, which were used by the officers in question when cheating government funds.
Further alleged is that amounts cheated from the government funds varied between E500 to E2 000, mostly on a daily basis. One of the accused officers, who has worked for the past 20 years and stationed at the Mbabane Government Hospital from 2014, is currently on suspension, pending further investigations.
The officers allegedly manipulated the hospital’s accounting books or bank deposits by separating Emalangeni and Rands when depositing revenue collected. “The TF 105 bank deposit slips have seven copies. The first two copies are left at the bank. Three copies are sent to treasury, while the remainder of two copies are left in the hospital file. For example, on a particular day, the ticket sales would amount to E5 500. He (accused officer) would decide to bank E550, and then pocket for himself the difference of E5 000.
“The deposit slips sent to treasury and the ones filed in the hospital records are different, he would add the zero to reflect the actual sales of E5 500 before submitting a revenue thus the books of accounts will appeal to be balancing at revenue until the bank reconciliation is performed,” reads the report in part.
Noteworthy is that when interrogated by the investigating team, the suspended officer admitted to have tempered mostly with TR4 (E10 for hospital admission) and TR2 (E5 for X-ray). He further confessed to have tempered with the writing at the bottom of TOF 105. Instead of writing five thousand five hundred emalangeni only, he would allegedly write five five zero zero Emalangeni, leaving space inbetween to temper with the wording eg (five ……….. five ……….. zero …………. zero)
The accused officer estimated to have misappropriated E79 750, although confirming that it was not the actual figure as it could be more. After conducting a thorough investigation, the investigating committee discovered a lot of serious and unacceptable anomalies, poor checks and controls and lack of proper supervision of the accused officer by his immediate supervisors.
Manipulate
“It is quite obvious to notice that the officer committed a serious offence, which has a criminal character as he was able to manipulate the documents and books and misrepresent accounting statement that did not match precisely with his banking if collected revenue at the Eswatini Central Bank.
“He did this after realising that there were poor checks and controls as he was the officer entrusted to do banking daily and there was no direct supervision as he continuously conducted his duties and responsibilities. He was able to falsify accounts documents for fraudulent appropriation to his own personal use and benefit, which was money entrusted to him by employer.”
The committee observed that the embezzlement of collected revenue is a serious form of stealing as the officers has been trusted and obviously abused that trust from his superiors by allegedly appropriating a large sum of generated revenue by the Mbabane Government Hospital for a long period without being detected by the Treasury Department.
Modify
“The officer was cunning enough to intentionally make accounts records look genuine while they were false as he had a style of writing the figures so to later on alter or modify the information of the collected revenue, with the intent that it should be used, believed and acted upon as if it’s genuine.
“He admitted to the stealing of Mbabane Government Hospital revenue and that the least amount he would steal would at numerous times be E2 000 but he was very economical with disclosing the actual truth when he actually started stealing the money and gave an approximate figure of over E79 000. There is an ongoing reconciliation verifying the exact amount he has stolen from the hospital.”
The investigating team made recommendation for the Ministry of Health PS to request the legal officer of the ministry, to further draft the appropriate charges in accordance to General Order A.946, Section (1) – Section (2) and most importantly request the Civil Service Commission to conduct disciplinary proceedings with formal inquiry against the officer. The AG, Matsebula, had not responded to questions sent to him on this issue at the time of compiling this report yesterday.