SHILLONG, June 12: Days after Governor Satya Pal Malik sought Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s intervention in alleged embezzlement of funds due to non-maintenance of accounts by the three autonomous district councils (ADCs), Leader of Opposition in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Pynshngain N Syiem has contended that it is all-important that the Council’s Finance department is bolstered to ensure financial accounts are prepared on time.
The statement comes against the backdrop of the CAG’s letter to the Governor, seeking his intervention in the non-maintenance of accounts by the KHADC as well as the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
“The Finance department of the Council is not equipped with a finance officer. As such, we have not been able to prepare the financial report on time. The department needs to be strengthened,” Syiem, who served as the council’s CEM earlier, said.
He claimed the officers in the Finance department are efficient but added the Council requires the service of financial experts to ensure timely preparation and maintenance of financial accounts.
He also suggested the constitution of a financial expert committee that can assist and make suggestions on all financial matters.
Syiem recalled that during his tenure as the CEM, he had constituted such a committee with financial experts, who retired from financial institutions, to prepare and maintain the Council’s financial reports.
Asked if the statement of incumbent CEM Titosstarwell Chyne that the Council could not maintain the financial records due to the pandemic was justified, Syiem said it is the Council’s duty to prepare and submit the same to the office of the Accountant General on time even if there was a pandemic.
On Friday, the Governor had said he received a letter from the CAG on June 8 relating to the matter of non-submission of accounts by the three ADCs over a period of some successive years and non-tabling of the reports of the CAG in the councils.
He stated that an inquiry could be conducted into the lapses, if deemed necessary.
A statement issued by Pravin Bakshi, Commissioner and Secretary to the Governor, had said the Governor had taken up the matter with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday and after a telephonic communication, sent a formal letter to him, urging the chief minister to ensure timely and correct preparation of accounts by the district councils through his personal urgent intervention.
It is pertinent to note that the CAG had, in its letter to the Governor, said the Councils do not prepare accounts and maintain records of expenditure on time which consequently delays implementation of corrective measures recommended by the auditors based on the findings of the audit and mismanagement, misappropriation, wasteful expenditure etc., continue unchecked for years.
The non-maintenance of accounts is an indication of financial mismanagement and points towards embezzlement of funds in the three ADCs, the CAG had said.
“The audit reports are either not tabled or tabled belatedly and are not discussed by the Councils; hence the infractions escape the desired scrutiny and executive accountability,” the CAG said, while exhorting the Governor to take steps to ensure that an oversight mechanism is evolved to provide reasonable assurance on governance to the stakeholders on the same lines as in the state government.
