9 Jun 2005

Solomon Islands audits of government departments continues

10:46 am on 9 June 2005

The Solomon Islands Auditor General's office says police are investigating some cases as a result of audits undertaken in government departments.

The acting deputy auditor-general, Richard Woodgate, won't say which departments are involved.

But he says to date, they've found millions of dollars were lost because of uncollected arrears in fees and licences, and mismanagement and corruption were evident.

Mr Woodgate says there have been real benefits from the resumption of audits with income from fisheries increasing nine times over three years.

He says they're adding more staff to the office but there's a lot still to do.

"The audit office has not really been functioning for many years, and as a result, some audits haven't been done for 20 years. There's still a significant amount of work to be done here. You've got the expenditure side with health, education, police, prisons, and of course, Inland Revenue."

Mr Woodgate says the provincial sector also needs to be audited, but there's been a lot of disruption as a result of the civil unrest.