MVR 600,000 lost from Dhiyamigili Council's safe

The audit report of the Thaa atoll Dhiyamigili Council has stated that over MVR 600,000 has gone missing from the council office's safe.

The 2022 Compliance Audit Report for Dhiyamigili Council released by Auditor General Hussain Niyazi last week states that MVR 605.438 of the money that should be in the council's safe has gone missing.

The Audit Report said that the safe had been checked in October last year to check if the funds were there, and it had been discovered that there was not enough money to cover the amount that should have been in the safe by the date.

The report said that at the start of 2020, MVR 468,004, cash fees accepted by the council of MVR 397,053, as well as MVR 1.9 million taken from bank accounts, making a total of MVR 2.8 million had been kept at the council and rolled. Out of this, MVR 455.174 had been deposited in to the bank account again, and MVR 1.7 million had been spent, the report said. After deducting this, there should have been MVR 605,438 remaining in the safe, which amount has gone missing.

The report said that when the safe was checked on October 18, 2023, it did not contain the funds that it should have had.

It went on to say that even of the MVR 1.7 believed to have been spent by the council, records, such as payment vouchers and other documents, only confirm the spending of MVR 1.4 million of this.

Although the spending of the remaining MVR 300,000 is listed in a separate register of the council, no supporting documents for these are available, the report said.

The office has hence recommended investigations and to take action against any persons involved.