Suva City Council acting CEO Tevita Boseiwaqa says the council’s overtime incurred over the years ranged from $1.5million to $2m a year.
Mr Boseiwaqa told the Standing Committee on Social Affairs’ public submissions on the council’s 2016-2018 annual reports that this was a redspot identified by the SCCC’s audit team through a new, revised organisation structure.
He said this was discovered in just one section of the council.
Responding to a question from committee member, MP Joseph Nand, regarding the misappropriation of funds, Mr Boseiwaqa said two depots, “one is works, and the other one is health, one of them incurred about $240,000 plus in the last fiscal year up to June”.
“So, we are now trying to move in place ways this can be controlled, because that’s one of the SA’s (special administrators) main key responsibilities, to ensure that the funds are utilised well and to be managed well.
“Secondly, we are moving into this collection, so the audit team will go into this type of collection and do a survey.”
Mr Boseiwaqa said there was also a need to audit the pending leave of staff.
“There’s so much cashment of leave, whether it’s long service leave or annual leave.
“So, these are just some areas that we are moving in now to clean up, but again when you want to clear things, you face challenges, and that’s one of the main challenges that we face.”
