Luweero loses sh1.7b

By Frederick KiwanukaLUWEERO district has lost sh1.7b in fraudulent expenditure during the 2000/2001 financial year, the Auditor General (AG), John Muwanga, has said.In a report released last week, the AG said several payments were made illegally or lacked complete documentation in the financial year.The July 7, seven-page report, said there was an outright cash loss of sh117m while sh21m, given out in advances, was not recovered.Another sh28m in deposits was not remitted to the relevant beneficiaries as required by the financial regulations, the report said.It said sh19m was diverted from the Poverty alleviation Fund programme and no refund was made and there was no relevant document available to back up the anomaly.The report said sh221m was unvouchered. “In absence of complete documentation, all these payments are regarded doubtful and potentially fraudulent,” the report said. It said the district administration made an excess expenditure of sh1.3b, above the approved expenditure and no supplementary warrant were availed for audit.The report said sh281m was banked on the collection account, but was illegally spent at the source.It said another sh92m was purportedly given to staff to carry out several activities in the district, but was not accounted for.The report said sh188m was spent on the local council as excess expenditure regardless of the Local Government Act provisions. Another sh4.4m was to be remitted to the Uganda Revenue Authority but was not.