Five financial institutions in the country recorded unresolved irregularities amounting to more than Nu 294 M in 2019. The financial institutions are Bank of Bhutan (BoB), Bhutan Development Bank Limited (BDBL), Bhutan National Bank (BNB), National Provident and Pension Fund (NPPF) and Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Limited (RICBL).
The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) reflected these unresolved irregularities in its Annual Audit Report 2019.
With close to Nu 230 M, BNB had the highest unresolved irregularities among the five institutions. The Audit report listed the unresolved irregularities as cases of mismanagement and shortfalls, lapses and deficiencies. The bank had mismanagement case involving Nu 0.154 M where the bank paid this amount as a retirement benefit for six staff who joined the bank with forged documents.
Shortfalls, lapses and deficiencies accounted for Nu 229.75 M. RAA observed that the bank had paid an excess payment of Nu 0.64 M to three companies without execution of work.
The bank’s failure to take actions against defaulted loan accounts resulted in lapses amounting to Nu 3.9 M. The bank had outstanding loans and advances amounting to Nu 223.1 M and unclaimed demand drafts amounting to Nu 2.05 M.
The RAA made 13 observations, which were not resolved as of 31st January 2020.
NPPF recorded unresolved irregularities amounting to Nu 54.4 M of which Nu 0.055 M were resolved as of January 2020. Non-compliance to laws and rules accounted for Nu 5.88 M. NPPF had paid two months’ salary as bonuses to all employees apart from Performance-Based Variable Allowances to 168 staff without approval from the Board.
NPPF also has unclaimed government employee PF funds of Nu 48.5 M as beneficiaries were either expired, did not have the required documents for releasing payments or were not traceable.
BoB’s unresolved irregularities amounted to Nu 10.14 M. Categorised as shortfalls, lapses and deficiencies, the bank had overdue loans amounting to Nu 4.9 M and unclaimed demand drafts amounting to Nu 4.6 M.
The BDBL’s unresolved irregularities listed under the shortfall, lapses and deficiencies category amounts to Nu 0.57 M. The bank had paid the amount as excess payment to a contractor while constructing an office and residential building at Punakha. The report mentions that the bank made the excess payment due to inadequate supervision and improper verification of the contractor’s bill by the concerned site engineer.
The RICBL’s unresolved irregularities are listed as non-compliance to laws and rules and shortfalls, lapses and deficiencies but recorded no monetary amount. The RAA made 20 observations which were not resolved as of 31st January. The RAA found the RICBL had not done land valuation as per approved rate at the time of loan appraisal for 27 account holders. It was also observed that RICBL had not carried out security analysis for clients with multiple loan accounts, which expose the company to higher risks.
Phub Gyem
