THE Office of the Prime Minister has confirmed that all payment of government ministers are being done by Government and is not being outsourced.
Acting Permanent Secretary to the Office of the Prime Minister Naipote Katonitabua confirmed the only outsourcing done was in 2010 for the ministerial payroll and since then all had been returned to the Finance Ministry.
He said so far he did not have much information on whether any other outsourcing of government payroll services had been done and only the Ministry of Finance could confirm the matter.
It had been reported that Government in 2010 and 2011 sought expressions of interest from independent accounting firms to provide payroll services for payment of ministers’ salaries. The report said five of the country’s top accounting firms applied. They were Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Aliz Pacific and G Lal and Company.
Media reports further said Aliz Pacific provided the service for the ministers’ payroll.
