Ministry to examine over-payment claim

THE EDUCATION Ministry said yesterday it would be looking into allegations that it had mishandled one of its teachers’ unpaid leave claims and ended up paying him an excess £25,679.

The matter become public after the Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji’s highlighted severe deficiencies and weaknesses in matters of internal control at the Education Ministry in her annual report this week.

According to the report for 2002, which was given to President Tassos Papadopoulos on Friday, a secondary school teacher was granted extended unpaid leave in January 2000. However, for some reason, the teacher in question was not removed from the monthly payroll, thus resulting in an overpayment of £25,679.

“We received the report on Friday and will go through it very closely on Monday, including this reference mentioned. Once we have examined all the matters mentioned we will give any answers necessary,” the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Petros Kareklas, said yesterday.

Yiorkadji said a number of errors were made over salaries because “there was no reconciliation of monthly wage slip returns from the General Accounts department, nor were related correction control certificates sent to the Accountant-general”, a fact which “guaranteed serious risks”.

The report also says the ministry faces problems on the more general level of internal control. The main problem lies behind its ongoing tendency to hire temporary staff and to transfer educators from one department to another, which does not allow room for improvement, as well as the fact that its accounts department is understaffed.

Yiorkadji also pinpointed significant weaknesses in the handling of loans, which are appended to accounts for School Boards, the purchase of computers in schools, school building works, management of the wages of the management and educational staff, and the observation and execution of the development budget generally.

She said it was impossible to determine what loans were being used for the specific purpose proposed.
Meanwhile, the report also notes that although loans of £28 million were withdrawn last year, expenditure came to £35 million.

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