PAC: Revenue authority on spot over delayed transfers

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has faulted Rwanda Revenue Authority for having inexplicably delayed to effect the transfer of taxpayers’ money from commercial banks to the central bank. The revenue body was the first state organ to appear before the committee to answer for accounting glitches that were raised in the 2013-14 report by the Auditor-General. The scrutiny started yesterday. As members of the committee outlined issues identified by the Auditor-General related to RRA financial mismatches, the authority’s Commissioner-General, Richard Tusabe, stepped in, revealing more damning issues. “One of the issues that the AG discovered is delaying transfers of money from commercial banks to the National Bank of Rwanda; I take full responsibility for this mistake. I have since suspended four people over this problem and investigations are still going on,” Tushabe told PAC. Normally, commercial banks are required to ensure that money deposited on RRA accounts is transferred to the national bank in not more than three days; however, one of the cases that came up in PAC involved Rwf5 billion that was delayed by over 500 days on RRA account in GTBank. “Besides, the staff that were charged with ensuring that this money is transferred to the National Bank of Rwanda were also penalised, while the bank was slapped with a fine of Rwf140 million for not processing the transaction,” Tusabe told MPs. PAC chair Juvenal Nkusi referred to the development as “utter carelessness that should not go unpunished” The AG’s report had also faulted RRA on the same issue. The report indicated that “total collections of Rwf22.3 billion and $13,495 did not reach the RRA account in the national bank within the stipulated timeframe. Of these collections, Rwf21.9 billion was credited to the national bank accounts after delays ranging from one to 570 days, while a balance of Rwf415.4 million and $11,685 could not be traced to the central bank accounts by the time of audit in March 2015.” In a related development, PAC deputy chairperson Theoneste Karenzi expressed concerns over many bank accounts that are operated by RRA. “How do you monitor 320 bank accounts?” Karenzi asked. In response, Tusabe said although the Minister for Finance has the discretion of instructing the opening or closing of RRA bank accounts, plans are underway to close most of them and remain with a few. “This is not acceptable and that’s why we have agreed to reduce these accounts to 93 but in a phased approach. So far, I have written to the Minister for Finance requesting for the closure of 120 accounts in the first phase,” Tushabe said. But Auditor-General Obadiah Biraro advised RRA to ensure that the closure of the accounts does not hurt the taxpayers or complicate means of paying taxes. The committee today hears from officials in the former Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA). The utility, which has since been split into two agencies, had the biggest chunk of funds unaccounted for (Rwf8 billion) out of the Rwf11 billion that was found to have been wastefully spent during the reporting period. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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PAC: Revenue authority on spot over delayed transfers