They added that the closing liability has now risen to D167,226,672.50.
Tabling the report before deputies, chairperson of the PEC and member for Brikama North, Hon. Lamin J. Sanneh, disclosed they have recommended for board and management to ensure all tax obligations are reported and paid on time to avoid penalties.
Hon Sanneh stated that during the audit, it was noted that a GAMTEL staff was involved in a fraudulent act causing the company to lose D102, 000.00. Upon termination of her appointment, she was contracted for a period of 1year dated 1st July 2020 to 30th June 2021.
The Committee recommends the board to ensure a fraud policy is put in place as deterrence for violations and anyone found committing a fraudulent act should face disciplinary actions.
The PEC chair further revealed that auditors observed that GAMTEL acquired 15Ge internet backup from SONATEL and provided it to the operators/ISPs and invoiced them based on the capacity requested by the operators.
“This was done at the time they anticipated repair work was to take place on the ACE Banjul station. However, the amount recognised as revenue in the year 2020 is D4,652,198.49, which is far less than the total invoices amount sent to the operators.”
The PEC therefore recommended that the board and management ensure all the revenue transactions of the company are recorded through the accrual base procedure as per the accounting policy manual. “The board should ensure that the invoice amount is reconciled against cash recognised in the books of accounts and update the committee accordingly.
The audit report observed that laptops selected as part of the auditors samples were not tagged. “This creates difficulties and ambiguities in verifying them. The codes assigned to the laptops on the fixed asset register vary with those held at the IT Department. Location description of many assets also has some deficiencies.”
The PEC thus further recommended that the board and management ensure that an update on the record for laptops that are with the regional managers because the fixed asset register is not properly labelled/updated according to the physical locations. “The serial on the laptop should be as it is with the IT Unit and must be entered on the fixed asset register or use a unique reference code for each laptop.
