Missing council assets must be investigated: Councilor Shukuree

Council member of Hulhudhoo constituency Ibrahim Shukuree | Photo: AdduLive

Addu City, Maldives – Council member of Hulhudhoo constituency Ibrahim Shukuree has stated that missing assets of Addu City Council must be investigated.

Councilor Shukury stated that only stating that fixed assets worth MVR 5.5 million were missing from the Addu City Council in the 2018 Audit was not enough and that an investigation must launched at once.

The audit report of the council for the year 2018 showed showed fixed assets worth MVR 42,855,560 million. However, the financial report of the council included a fixed asset value of MVR 48,358742 million which the audit report marked as a false value. The report noted that MVR 5,503,182 million worth of fixed assets were missing from the council premises.

In an interview earlier today to local news outlet “AdduLive”, Shukuree said that auditing the council is something he greatly supports, and that he has submitted multiple complaints to the Local Government Authority (LGA) accusing the council of “being run unlawfully”. Shukuree noted that none of his complaints have been investigated to date.

Shukuree said that just marking these assets as missing is not enough, and that an investigation must be launched at once as it a right of the honest employees working at the council.

Councilor Shukury stated that after the Audit office send’s this case to the Proesecutor General’s office, this issue can be investigated. He also added that the LGA can also begin investigations in this particular case on their own initiative.

According to the 2018 audit report of Addu City Council, all assets procured as capital expenses from the state budget and are expected to be in use for more than one year, are to to be registered in the fixed asset registry of the state under section 11.03 (a) of the law regarding finances. The registry of the asset must include name, details, brand and serial number as well as the date of purchase, price and location where it is intended to be used.

However, the report highlighted that the above mentioned details of some of the fixed assets of the council taken for audit were missing and that these were not registered in the state registrar as well. The audit office has advised the city council to follow the law and to ensure all the required details of the assets are noted as required while noting that these arrangements must be checked once a year.