Jordan Times
Monday, August 23, 1999
Audit Bureau finds major irregularities at Royal Jordanian and other government institutions
AMMAN (J.T.) — ACCORDING TO a report presented by the Audit Bureau to the Lower House of Parliament covering the first six months of this year, the Royal Jordanian has extended a JD0.8 million loan to the Arab Wings without relying on any legal base that permits such a lending which also comes at a time when Royal Jordanian suffers from liquidity crunch. The report revealed that the loan carried no bank interest although Royal Jordanian was burdened with millions of dinars of interest.
The Audit Bureau pointed out that the Arab Wings was a troubled company as its losses until 1995 have amounted to JD2.5 million. Aside from the aforementioned loan, the Arab Wings owed Royal Jordanian a total of JD1.3 million in various financial obligation, the Audit Bureau said noting that Arab Wings was unable to pay the instalments that fell due and was granted a two-year grace period.
The report, which includes observations about departments and institutions audited by the bureau, criticised Royal Jordanian for not collecting a total of JD2.04 million of refundable deposits paid by the airline firm to a number of related parties. It said $2.9 million was still suspended with insurance companies as a result of accidents to plane engines in 1997 and 1998. The last remark about the airline was that the Royal Jordanian was owed JD69,025 by Alia Boutique.
Among the key institutions covered by the Audit Bureau report was the Ministry of Finance which was assailed for the weak mechanism of collecting a balance of JD33 million of public funds. The amount covered JD22 million of main and fundamental financial violations. JD4 million of dues to universities from persons who enjoyed scholarships and JD7 million of supply violations. The report attributed the difficulties in collecting the funds paid to universities to the lack of follow-up on the financial capabilities of the guarantors of the students who benefited from government scholarships.
The Ministry of Education was blamed for printing 4,000 copies of a book on industry at a cost of JD9,910. The book was found to be needed by only 42 students in two vocational classes. It was found also that the ministry was owed JD0.6 million by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for books supplied to it by the ministry.
The Audit Bureau found many irregularities at the Ministry of Health such as buying large quantities of medicines beyond the actual need. This led to the expiration of the validity of the medicines while in storage. In addition, the report said, many materials were found neglected in the warehouses without any action taken about them.
The Ministry of Health was criticised by the Audit Bureau for not taking the necessary maintenance and not following up on such work and not controlling and evaluating the performance of service tenders. In some cases, materials were not included in official records, the Audit Bureau revealed.