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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 25 Oct 2022 : 16:33:23
FACTCHECKING
Factcheck: Barrow’s misleading comments on the Securiport deal
CTOBER 24, 2022
By Kebba Jeffang
Claim: President Adama Barrow says the Securiport deal is not problematic as it has to be in place and added that the only issue with it is the process which makes the deal flawed such as collecting physical cash from passengers at the airport.
Source: President Adama Barrow
The Gambian president Adama Barrow took a trip to the United States to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting. He used the occasion to address some Gambians in New York on recent happenings in the country. In the said meeting, he also discussed the issue of Securiport, a U.S company that is controversially operating at the Banjul International Airport since 2017 collecting $20 from arriving and departing passengers.
His comments came on the heels of a Malagen investigation that exposed how the government flouted procurement, tax, and public finance rules in signing and implementing the contract with Securiport, resulting in a loss of at least D274m of public funds to the state.
In his first public statement on the issue, Barrow was quoted by a Sept. 26 Jamaano online article as saying:
“Regarding the security fee that’s being paid at the airport, when your airport is being assessed, the airport is rated according to its security. So, it has to be there. How it is collected is what is flawed.
“We wanted it to be included in the ticket but for it to be in the ticket is not the prerogative of The Gambia. The ticketing system is international, so to include it there is difficult.
See also FACT SHEET: Did President Barrow construct over 600 km of paved roads in 5 years?
“But we are trying to get it included because it is $20. And I know everyone in this country goes to The Gambia once every year I believe.
“I believe it is reasonable that one gives D1,000 or D2,000 to The Gambia. We want people to pay because everyone wants development.”
Factcheck
In factchecking the above statements made by the president, Malagen media monitoring looks at several key problematic issues, including:
Not everyone pays: The contract signed between the gov’t and Securiport provides exemption for 2-year-olds and below. However, diplomatic passport holders have not been paying the levy. While Barrow said ‘we want people to pay because everyone wants development,’ he himself may not be paying the levy after all.
The contract was made illegally: The auditors have faulted various aspects of the airport security levy. The cash collection, which Barrow admitted as flawed, is just one minor issue as per the audit queries. The legitimacy of the contract was questioned in view of the following:
At the outset, the contract was single-sourced in violation of procurement rules.
The tax exemption given to the company did not go through National Assembly approval.
The attorney general, the chief legal adviser to the president, advised against signing the contract
The payment of $4.5m being claimed by Securiport from the gov’t for the delayed start was queried as a violation of public finance rules.
Verdict:
The comments made by President Adama Barrow are misleading.
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| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Momodou |
Posted - 17 Feb 2023 : 20:43:41
KARAMBA TOURAY EXPOSES THE COMPLICITY OF THE OFFICER OF THE PRESIDENT'S RESPONSE TO THE SECURIPORT AUDIT REPORT!
Below is the BS self-serving story the Office of The President told auditors regarding the awarding of the Securiport contract. This asinine explanation confirms the crime the Office of the President, driven by greed, malice and intent, committed against the Gambian people by conspiring with a private foreign company to hatch, sign and implement an illegal taxation scheme at our national airport against the expressed legal opinion of the Ministry of Justice that vehemently opposed the heist.
This is an outright criminal offence. The office of the President is not a contracting agency, and overruling the objections of the government’s principal legal office regarding a malicious transaction that enslaves our sovereign nation to a foreign company and their criminal co-conspirators for 15 years is an offence we can’t and mustn’t live with.
To add insult to injury, The Office of the President, in its response to the auditors, is acknowledging its complicity in committing a serious criminal offence but promising to effectively investigate itself and consult its supine cabinet to see what administrative steps it will take. What kind of disrespect, arrogance and shamelessness assumes the nation’s highest office will deliberately engage in criminal behaviour and the whole country will fold its hands and wait in vain? We should not tolerate this crime that is already costing our government billions and destroying the economy. The government must terminate the contract immediately. An independent police investigation must also be launched to determine the genesis of this fraudulent contract and all identified culprits prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Here is the BS explanation from the Office of the President to the auditors, as reported by the Standard Newspaper today :
“OP responds
Reacting to the auditors’ findings, the Office of the President said: “In retrospect, The Office of the President agrees that the justification for extending the contract by additional ten years as a result of the late implementation of the project is not considered plausible and exposes the government to high termination cost if it chooses to terminate the contract before the expiry of the period. Securiport submitted the request for an extension on 8th January 2019. The delay registered was just for one year from June 2018. The implementation of the project started in 2020. However, the government had already signed the Addendum in 2019. The decision to extend and sign the addendum was communicated by OP via a letter OP217/457/01 TEMP XI (70-EOC).”
The Office of the President also promised to work with the Contract Management Committee, Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders to re-examine the contract provisions, including the extension period, to develop a position paper and advise the Government on the way forward.
“Based on their findings, a thorough investigation will be carried out to establish the fact of the contract, scope and responsibility of the person involved in the total disregard of the advice given by the Principal Legal Adviser of the Government. The matter will be referred to the Cabinet, and where the officers find liable, administrative action will be taken following the Civil Service Regulations,” OP added.”
BY KARAMBA TOURAY @USA! |
| toubab1020 |
Posted - 16 Feb 2023 : 14:08:19
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https://foroyaa.net/government-weighs-in-on-securiport-corruption-allegations/
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GPU Presents Position Paper On Criminal Offences Bill 2022
BY Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, Deputy Government Spokesperson.
16th February 2023.
In the wake of a flurry of misleading news media reports regarding Securiport, the corruption perception of Transparency International (TI) and related matters, The Gambia Government wishes to clarify the circumstances surrounding these allegations in a press release dated 14th February 2023. The release which was signed by Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, the Deputy Government Spokesperson, indicates the following:
“For the record, the audit report on Securiport is not new.”
That this was originally published in November 2022, when the auditors adjudged that it was a force majeure issue, due to the refusal of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to incorporate it into the airline ticketing system. That the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly discussed the major topics including a nine month lapse in levy collection during the initial stage, and auditory assertion on the recovery of D164m that was unjustifiably paid to Securiport.
According to the release, the Barrow Government as a pragmatic arbiter of checks and balances, took FPAC’s recommendations seriously by establishing a taskforce to investigate and renegotiate the terms and conditions of the Securiport contract by engaging IATA to include the levy into cost of air tickets.
The release indicated that without delay, the Government simultaneously engaged the Attorney General for appropriate actions regarding this issue, and said the Justice Ministry is of the opinion that the contract may be breached or be in conflict with another existing one.
“In fact, The Gambia is not the only country implementing Securiport’s services. Countries like Senegal are also using Securiport,” the release indicated.
Meanwhile, the release also stated that the Barrow Government remains firmly committed to transparency in Public Financial Management (PFM) and deserves commendation for creating an enabling environment for accountability.
He said thanks to PFM reforms on governance, risk management and internal control processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), institutions are allowed to operate freely in accordance with their respective mandates. He added that this is visible in the activities of FPAC, Internal Audit, National Audit Office (NAO) and The Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA).
Furthermore, the release adds that the digitization of the Government payment systems and platforms allows for easier revenue collection, which exercise is accompanied by legislative processes such as the enactment of the Public / Private Partnership (PPP), State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the Anti-Corruption Bills, demonstrating Government’s strong commitment to fight bad governance and corruption.
The release also states that crucially, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA) has now enhanced resource mobilization and has cleared the backlog of unaudited Government accounts.
“Retrospectively, the Barrow Administration instituted the ‘Janneh Commission’ and fully implemented its recommendations, albeit with challenges of the current democratic dispensation to guarantee justice,” the release adds.
That finally, the recent Public Expenditure and Financial Assessment (PEFA) shows a significant improvement by The Gambia Government, as recognized by the US Government’s approval of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) funding for the country.
These indices, the release said, are more reflective and certainly more objective than Transparency International’s (TI) perception measure of corruption which seldom recognizes government efforts.
++++++++++
Did spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh, on February 15th make a mistake causing the DEPUTY Goverment Spokesperson to make a "Clarification " of the Governments position OR ?
++++++++++ |
| toubab1020 |
Posted - 15 Feb 2023 : 18:48:05
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https://standard.gm/govt-reacts-to-auditors-findings-on-securiport-contract/
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Gov’t reacts to auditors’ findings on Securiport contract
February 15, 2023 by spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh,
The Gambia Government has issued a statement reacting to the findings of the National Audit Office detailing irregularities on the Securiport contract.
The NAO report on the award of contract to Securiport for the administrative and management of immigration security services at the Banjul International Airport has revealed several irregularities in the contract and recommended for it to be reviewed.
But in a statement signed by its spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh, the government said: “For the record, the audit report on Securiport is not new. Originally published in November 2022, the auditors adjudged that this is a force majeure issue due to the refusal of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to incorporate it into the airline ticketing system.
“The Parliamentary Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) discussed the major topics including a 9-month lapse in levy collection during the initial stage and auditory assertion on the recovery of D164m unjustifiably paid to Securiport. The Barrow Government, as a pragmatic arbiter of checks and balances, took FPAC’s recommendations seriously by establishing a taskforce to investigate and renegotiate the terms and conditions of the Securiport contract and engaging IATA to include the levy into air tickets,” the statement added.
It added: “Without delay, the Government simultaneously engaged the Attorney General for appropriate actions regarding this issue and the Justice Ministry is of the opinion that the contract may breach or be in conflict with another contract. In fact, The Gambia is not the only country implementing the Securiport services. Countries like Senegal are also using Securiport.
According to the statement, the Barrow Government remains firmly committed to transparency in Public Financial Management (PFM) and deserves commendation for creating an enabling environment for accountability.
“Thanks to the PFM reforms on governance, risk management and internal control processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), institutions are allowed to operate freely in accordance with their respective mandates. This is visible in the activities of FPAC, Internal Audit, National Audit Office (NAO) and The Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA).
“Furthermore, the digitalization of the Government payment systems and platforms allows easier revenue collection. This exercise is accompanied by legislative processes such as the enactment of the Public Private Partnership (PPP), State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the Anti-Corruption Bills that demonstrate Government’s strong commitment to fight bad governance and corruption. Crucially, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA) has enhanced resource mobilization and cleared the backlog of unaudited Government accounts.
“Retrospectively, the Barrow Administration instituted the Janneh Commission and fully implemented its recommendations albeit with challenges of the current democratic dispensation guaranteeing justice. Finally, the recent Public Expenditure and Financial Assessment (PEFA) shows a significant improvement by The Gambia Government, which was recognized by the US Government’s approval of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) funding for the country. These indices are more reflective and certainly more objective than the Transparency International (TI) perception measure of corruption which seldom recognizes government effort,” it concluded.
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| toubab1020 |
Posted - 14 Feb 2023 : 14:53:01
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https://standard.gm/auditors-recommend-probe-into-ops-decision-to-extend-securiport-contract/
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AUDITORS RECOMMEND PROBE INTO OP’S DECISION TO EXTEND SECURIPORT CONTRACT
By Omar Bah on February 14, 2023
The National Audit Office has recommended an investigation into the Office of the President and Gambia Immigration Department’s decision to extend the Securiport contract against the Attorney General’s advice.
The NAO report on the award of contract to Securiport for the administrative and management of immigration security services at the Banjul International Airport also stated that the contracting agencies such as Office of the President and the Immigration department should give plausible explanation for agreeing to extend the duration of the contract from ten years to fifteen years with total disregard to the Attorney General’s advice.
The auditors further revealed that the justification to extend the contract by additional 10 years as a result of late implementation of the project is not considered plausible and exposes the government to high termination cost if it chooses to end the contract before expiry.
“This is a lack of transparency in the award of government contracts. It suggests that contracts are being awarded to favoured service providers with the intention of receiving kickbacks from those favoured service providers. This means that the Government ‘s implicit contribution to this project is more than the investment made by Securiport,” the auditors noted in their report.
The NAO report added: “We recommend that a thorough investigation be carried out to establish the complete facts of the contract and establish who is responsible for the disregard to the advice of the principal legal adviser of the government and appropriate measures be taken against the officials responsible.”
According to the auditors, a letter referenced AG 310/01/PART 6 (6) and dated 12 July 2016 from the Attorney General’s Chambers seen by them, strongly advised against the use of automatic renewal clause and that the contract term should not exceed five years as opposed to ten years stipulated in the provision.
The auditors said despite the advice, government forged ahead with the proposed contract and on 20th June 2018 entered a contract with Securiport LLC – a company incorporated in Delaware, USA for the provision of Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services (CAISS) and E-visa management system services for the government under Build Maintain-Transfer for a period of 10 years.
“We also noted through a letter referenced OP 217/457/01/ Temp: XI (70-EOC) and dated 18th March 2019 from the Office of the President referring to a decision that was reached to defer the charging of user fees to 1st October 2019 in a bid to avert negative impact on the travelling public,” the report added.
According to the auditors, the decision according to the letter was communicated to Securiport LLC and the company reverted with Addendum to this effect.
“The letter directed the Director of Immigration to invite the General Manager of Securiport LLC and other signatories to the original contract for signing of Addendum on or before Friday 22nd March 2019,” the auditors added.
According to the NAO, an addendum to this contract was prepared and signed on 29th March 2019 between the Government and Securiport LLC which modified article 3.4 of the original contract by adding extra 5 years to the original contract thus extending the duration of this contract to 15 years by adding extra 10-year period unless any of the parties decides to terminate it by giving written notice of such decision within a period of Six months in advance of the expiration date of this contract.
“The decision to extend the contract by additional 10 years directly refutes the recommendation given by the Attorney General that the term of contract be limited to 5 years subject to review before any extension could be considered. Discussion with officials revealed that this extension was necessary to cover for the late implementation of the project by the government,” the auditors added.
OP responds
Reacting to the auditors’ findings, the Office of the President said: “In retrospect, The Office of the President agrees that the justification to extend the contract by additional 10 years as a result of late implementation of the project is not considered plausible and exposes government to high termination cost if it chooses to terminate the contract before the expiry of the period. The request for extension was submitted by Securiport on 8th January 2019. The delay registered was just for one year from June 2018. The implementation of the project started in 2020. However, the Addendum was already signed in 2019. The decision to extend and sign the addendum was communicated by OP via a letter OP217/457/01 TEMP XI (70-EOC).”
The Office of the President also promised to work with the Contract Management Committee, Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders to re-examine the contract provisions including the extension period to come up with a position paper and advise the Government on the way forward.
“Based on their findings a thorough investigation will be carried out to establish the fact of the contract, scope and responsibility of the person involved in the total disregard of the advice given by the Principal Legal Adviser of the Government. The matter will be referred to the Cabinet and where the officers find liable, administrative action will be taken in accordance with the Civil Service Regulations,” OP added.
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| toubab1020 |
Posted - 13 Feb 2023 : 15:51:59
Interesting SNIPPET from the artcle below:I Do, you DEAR READER ? if so Please Post and tell all of us.
"..... GCAA Director General, Fansu Bojang said the decision was purely taken in good faith and Securiport has nothing to do with it."
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https://standard.gm/gcaa-explains-new-airport-fees/
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By Omar Bah on February 13, 2023
The Gambia Civil Aviation Authority has defended its plans to increase security and other charges at the airport but denied any influence from Securiport over the decision.
Last month, a GCAA letter addressed to airline operators and other stakeholders leaked in the media, revealed that the existing £1.50 airport security fee charge on tickets will go up to $5 and will be added to the $20 currently collected by Securiport to make it $25 which will then be added in airline tickets by GCAA effective 1st May.
The decision has since been greeted with heavy criticism with some pointing fingers at Securiport, a company tasked to collect security fees for the government which is deposited in a joint account before it is shared between them (Securiport) and the government.
But speaking to The Standard in an exclusive interview Friday at his office, the GCAA Director General, Fansu Bojang said the decision was purely taken in good faith and Securiport has nothing to do with it.
“This has not been triggered by Securiport interest but by the state and when I say the state, I mean the Civil Aviation as the operator of the airport for the convenience of the passengers because the physical collection of security levy has been seen as a great bottleneck in facilitation. It also has an adverse impact on passenger movement because sometimes people come to the airport and they don’t have cash or their cards are not working,” he noted.
DG Bojang said his office felt that if the charges are absorbed in the air tickets, it will allow them to stop Securiport from the physical collection.
“This would now form part of the ticket and the passengers would not have to go through the turmoil of queuing to pay for security fees on arrival or on departure. I emphasise, this was not triggered by Securiport but our own concern and the need to make facilitation more friendly for the passengers,” he added.
DG Bojang added that the decision to take the collection from Securiport has nothing to do with the issue of trust or capacity lapses in their collection system. “It is purely based on our decision and the need to improve on facilitation,” he noted. He admitted that the passengers will have to pay the bills even if the fees are included in the air tickets.
Justification
DG Bojang said the process has gone through all internal consultations and the GCAA has been given the green light to proceed and review some of these charges. He said the decision was triggered by the huge investments that the state has been doing in the airport infrastructure since 1999 to date.
“Since 1999, the airport fees have not been reviewed or increased and the only charges increased over the period was the airport development levy of 20 pounds which was introduced in 2011. So, even our stakeholders know they are constantly increasing their charges particularly air tickets depending on market activities because obviously they are into business and they have to operate viably. When there are movements in fuel prices around the globe upward, airlines instantly increase their tickets. But we have not been doing that and you cannot tell me over 30 years there has been no inflation or changes in cost of pressure,” he argued.
DG Bojang said the GCAA has over the years expended millions of dollars on refurbishments to ensure they have a functional and user-friendly airport.
“We just inaugurated and finished the rehabilitation of the terminal building and we have also completed doubling the capacity on our aircraft packing from 45, 000 to 90,000 square metres. We also built multiple exit routes and all these are in millions of dollars. So, certainly when we invest the return of investment has to be recovered from the users of the airport,” he added.
He said the proposed charges were presented to the airlines and they found it to be reasonable after consulting within themselves during a meeting attended by members of the Competition Commission.
“It was after that meeting that the stakeholders asked us to formally write to them about the decision. So, this doesn’t just come out of the blue,” he concluded.
Nigeria along with Liberia and six other countries (Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Bangui, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, and Niger) have been listed by IATA as among the African countries with highest airport taxes and charges. |
| toubab1020 |
Posted - 10 Feb 2023 : 14:11:57
SNIPPET:
Reacting to the findings, Securiport said the deposit slips are available and will be transmitted to auditors.
“Deposits in the wrong accounts are simply human mistakes,” the company added.
However, according to auditors, the management response “did not address the audit finding therefore the issue remains outstanding”.
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https://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18475
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BY By Omar Bah on February 10, 2023
https://standard.gm/govt-asked-to-recover-over-d164m-unjustifiably-paid-to-securiport/
The National Audit Office has advised the Gambia government to recover D164, 053,036.00 paid to Securiport towards the arrears of revenue claimed to have been accrued from 1 October 2019 to 31 August 2020 when the project could not commence due to nonenforcement of agreed security fee collection by government.
The NAO report on the award of contract to Securiport for the administrative and management of immigration security services at the Banjul International Airport highlighted that discussions between auditors and government officials revealed that the delay was caused by engagements with the international aviation body, IATA, to request a code to be embedded in air tickets which was however denied due to The Gambia being considered as an expensive destination.
According to the audit report, Securiport relied on one of the provisions of the contract which requires the government to make payment to the company for any failure in enforcing the collection of the security fee.
But the auditors said there is a risk that public funds were spent on paying arrears for which the Government had no obligation to pay thereby causing financial loss to the Government.
“Government should stop paying any arrears to Securiport until legal advice is sought from the Attorney General and the ministry of justice. If the legal opinion is in favour of the government, measures should be made to recover the D164, 053,036.00 paid to Securiport, and when that is done, the money should be paid back to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and details furnished to the National Audit Office for verification,” the auditors’ report stated.
The report added that the government should not have agreed to pay any accrued arrears to Securiport for late commencement of the project because failure to secure the IATA code to start the operations of the project is not good reason to pay any arrears to Securiport as this is outside of government’s control.
Response
According to the management response, Securiport has, on several occasions, indicated to NAO that government pays the funds into their operational account, and they are free to disburse their funds as they deem fit and that government is not and has not taken any liability for a Securiport loan registered at GT Bank.
Securiport also insisted that NAO cannot just limit itself to analyzing the parts of the contract that suits them and ignore other parts.
“The contract needs to be viewed as a whole and as initiated by both parties. It has further been explained, on several occasions, that there is no issue regarding the breakdown of the accrued arrears as the MoF, MoI and GCAA representatives verified these figures and then the instruction was forwarded to MoF from SG office acknowledging the debt to be paid,” Securiport argued.
Other findings
According to the auditors, a review of the cash collection on dollar bank account (201/126736/2/1/1) shows instances where monies totalling USD207,600 equivalent to D10,948,824.00 was transferred to the Operational dollar account (201/126736/2/1/0) of Securiport for use even before the sharing of revenue.
“This suggests a deliberate attempt by Securiport to suppress and to divert cash collections to personal accounts. There is a risk that Securiport withdraws from the cash collection account at their discretion without seeking any approval from GCAA. This is a deliberate breach of contract by Securiport and there is a risk that these collections were diverted to other accounts other than the collection account,” the auditors queried.
But according to Securiport, the deposit slips are recorded in a file which serves as the basis for the slips of the Government and Securiport shares.
“Therefore, there is an effective control and assurance of the amount due to GCAA as per the percentage split. Securiport has the right to transfer part of its share, and this does not open a way for suspicion. It was without any wrong intention. All the transactions are duly tracked on the bank statements, so no diversion is possible,” the company noted in their response to the auditor’s query.
However, the auditors maintained that it is inappropriate for Securiport to transfer monies collected from the security fee to their operational account before sharing takes place as stated in Section 2.2.1.1 (ii) of the contract document.
The NAO added that an amount of D4, 025,040.00, USD 16,765.00 and CFA 21,500.00 respectively were made from security fee and deposited to the operational account of Securiport instead of the cash collection account.
The auditors argued that there is risk that the cash collections are understated thus denying the government its share of revenue.
This, the auditors added, is a deliberate breach of contract by Securiport and there is a risk that these collections were used by Securiport for their operational expenses or diverted to other accounts for private use.
“This suggests that there is no monthly bank reconciliation performed by the Officials of Securiport,” the NAO report added.
The NAO demanded that Securiport provide a plausible explanation for depositing security fee collection to accounts other than the cash collection account or reverse and deposit back to the cash collection account and subsequently transfer Government share of revenue due on these collections as stated in the contract.
“We recommend that the Government of The Gambia through the GCAA and Ministry of Finance engage Securiport to ensure that Government share of revenue is paid in full,” the auditors stated in their report.
Reacting to these findings, Securiport said the depositing of the monies into the operational account instead of the cash collection account is simply a human mistake on the account numbers which are similar.
But according to auditors, if it was a human mistake as claimed by Securiport, these monies would have been reversed and paid back to the cash collection account without any delay. “However, this was not done, therefore, the finding remained unresolved,” the auditors noted.
The auditors further revealed that discussions with staff of Securiport and personnel at GCAA confirmed that diplomatic and service passport holders do not pay the security fee of $20 or D1,000. However this is contrary to annex III (II) 5 of the contract which only exempted aircraft crew, airline staff, children below 2 years, transit passengers and passengers whose flights are diverted to Banjul meaning tha exemption of diplomatic and service passport holders is not part of the contract.
“Several requests were made to the IT personnel of Securiport to provide the CAISS system report which shows the number of diplomatic and service passport holders arriving and departing the Banjul international airport but no response is received from management. Therefore, the finding remains unresolved up to the time of finalising this report,” the auditors stated.
Tax liability
The auditors further highlighted that a notice of both corporate tax and education levy was prepared and submitted to Securiport for the year ended 31 December 2020 by the GRA but a review of the notice of assessment revealed that Securiport owed a corporate tax liability amounting to D334, 228.15 and D761, 801.03 respectively for the years ended 2019 and 2020.
“We also noted that an Education levy of D98, 226.37 for the year ended 31/12/2020 was also due for payment. These tax liabilities include penalties and interest. Our discussions with officials of GRA revealed that this assessment was based on Best of Judgment (BOJ) and there was no payment of tax by Securiport up to the time of finalising this report. There is a risk that Government contribution to this project is at least equal to, if not more than the initial investment incurred by Securiport. We recommend that Securiport pays its tax liabilities to the Gambia Revenue Authority and evidence of payments be provided to the NAO for verification,” the auditors stated.
They further stated that based on their calculation, there is under reporting of revenue collected by Securiport amounting to $250,315.93 which is equivalent to D12, 928,817.70 between expected revenue and the revenue reported by Securiport for the periods under review.
“We also noted differences of D5,580,985.00 and USD160,093.00, respectively between receipts captured in the POS and the amounts deposited in the cash collection account. There is a risk that not all collections made from the security fee were deposited to the cash collection account,” the report stressed.
The report also revealed that a review of the cash collection sheets showed that collections totalling D47, 000, €12,045 and £3,190 respectively were made from security fee but these collections did not reflect in the system receipt records (POS) while another reconciliation of the amounts recorded in the collection sheet and the amounts in the POS noted a difference D444, 540.00 and USD 130,768.00 respectively.
The auditors also revealed that receipts totalling D347, 190.00 in respect of security fee were collected between the 28th December 2020 and 31st December 2020 but a review of the bank statement shows only D27, 190.00 were deposited during this period leaving a balance of D320, 000.00 which was used to pay staff salaries based on the authorization email correspondence from the Managing Director of Securiport.
“This is a deliberate attempt by Securiport to suppress and divert cash collections for personal benefits,” the report added.
According to the auditors, collections of CFA858,000.00 in respect of security fee were receipted; however, there was no evidence of deposit of these collections to the cash collection account while another review of the cash collection bank statements for both dollar and pound sterling accounts revealed deposits of USD3, 235 and GBP6, 780 respectively, were made but inspection of the manual receipts showed no corresponding receipt of Security fee collected on the same period for both dollar and Pound.
According to the detailed audit report, Securiport failed to pay Expatriate quota tax which is an annual payment made by foreign nationals employed in the country with ECOWAS nationals paying D10, 000 and non-ECOWAS nationals D40, 000.
“During our audit, we observed foreign nationals working as employees of Securiport. Our attempt to establish the number of foreign employees at Securiport was unsuccessful as a list of foreign employees was not provided for review up to the time of finalising this report. As a result, we could not confirm the tax status of the foreign employees at Securiport. Further discussions with officials from the Gambia Revenue Authority revealed that there has not been any payment of payroll tax by Securiport for its foreign employees since the commencement of its operations in the country,” the auditors added.
According to the auditors, there is a risk that Securiport is engaging in tax evasion thereby causing loss of revenue to the Government of the Gambia and recommended that Securiport pays its payroll tax liabilities to the GRA and evidence of payments is provided to this office for verification.
“But we have not received a management response. Therefore, the finding remains unresolved up to the time of finalising this report,” the auditors stated.
The report further highlighted that attempts to review the Cash Collection bank statements for all currencies was unsuccessful as Securiport fails to provide this information for their review.
“During the audit, several requests were made to Securiport for the provision of the security fee cash collections bank statements from January 2021 to May 2021 but this remained outstanding up to the time of writing this report. Therefore, we could not ascertain that Security fee collections were fully paid to the cash collection account for the period highlighted above. Implication,” the report added.
But according to Securiport, this might be an oversight and that the cash collection bank statements from January 2021 to May 2021 are available and will be transmitted to the auditors.
But the auditors maintained that the bank statements were provided and reviewed however, they noted that monies totaling USD 22,000 and D10, 700,000.00 were transferred from the cash collection account to the operational account (Business account) of Securiport even before revenues were shared.
The auditors added: “We noted that Securiport opened four (4) cash collection accounts in four (4) currencies with Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) without notifying Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). This is a deliberate breach of an important provision of the contract by Securiport at the start of the implementation of this project”.
“A review of the cash collection bank statements for both dollar and pound sterling accounts revealed deposits totalling USD3, 235 and GBP6, 780 respectively were made but Our inspection of the manual receipts shows no corresponding receipt of Security fee collected in the same period for both dollar and Pound. Therefore, our audit could not determine the receipts for these amounts deposited to these accounts,” the auditors stated.
Reacting to the findings, Securiport said the deposit slips are available and will be transmitted to auditors.
“Deposits in the wrong accounts are simply human mistakes,” the company added.
However, according to auditors, the management response “did not address the audit finding therefore the issue remains outstanding”.
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| toubab1020 |
Posted - 26 Oct 2022 : 13:13:24
SNIPPET FROM THE ABOVE POSTING:
"Verdict:
The comments made by President Adama Barrow are misleading."
+++++++++++
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| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
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