The Public Accounts Committee has highlighted overpayment of military lodging allowances and neglect of the RFMF to implement deductions for outstanding quarters rent after assessing the 2006 Auditor General's report.
The committee report stated that the overpayment of lodging allowances to officers occupying RFMF married quarters had also been raised in 2005.
It said recovery measures for the overpayment had been instituted but suspended in 2007 for no apparent reason.
The Public Accounts Committee said the balance of approximately $20,000 remains to be recovered.
The committee said there was also the issue of lost revenue through the neglect of the RFMF to implement deductions for outstanding quarters rent from some senior officers who were occupying government quarters without paying any rent.
The overpayment of service pensions was also highlighted.
This is where widows of pensioners who had passed away were still paid with full service pension.
There was concern that the current system used for certifying if pensioners were still alive was also susceptible to manipulation that could result in misappropriation of public funds.
The report also stated that the RFMF continued to pay the salaries of those officers who had been discharged.
Accounts committee member Taufa Vakatale said they have had a number of discussions with the military and the situation is improving.
The accounts committee report said they are concerned about the use of unauthorized suppliers by the RFMF although the matter has been raised in earlier reports.
It said the RFMF continued to purchase from suppliers other than those approved by the Major Tenders Board.
The committee said the military also continued to make unauthorized purchases from Lotus Garments of almost $9.5 million through the authorization of RFMF's senior military officer without any reference to the Major Tenders Board.
Furthermore, the military, according to the 2006 report, had not obtained competitive quotes for purchases amounting to $423,384 and to make matters worse according to the Public Accounts Committee, there were no supportive documents to confirm that the purchases were made.
The RFMF also breached the Finance Instructions 2005 when it consistently made payments to some of its suppliers of goods and services in 2006 on photocopied Local Purchase Orders.
Vakatale hopes these types of matters are addressed.
Feature
Overpayment of RFMF lodging allowances highlighted
