The Malta Council for Science and Technology came under the microscope of the National Audit Office for not keeping any attendance records of its employees.
Council chairman Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was recently reported to be at his MCST office only once a week, and judging from the report tabled in Parliament on Monday, it seems that the council’s employees follow a similar pattern.
Payroll testing of the 10 officers sampled revealed various mistakes. Other concerns, such as lack of supporting evidence to substantiate decisions affecting salary payments and divergence from approvals, were also noted.
The National Audit Office also reported that although the contract of a high ranking officer specified an entitlement of free fuel up to 150 litres per month, this was being paid as a monthly constant cash allowance instead, amounting in total to €2,484 annually. It did not say who the high ranking officer is.
Besides this fuel entitlement, the financial package also included an annual car allowance of €4,193. "This was an anomaly considering the fact that, in line with general Government practices, the award of a car allowance is a comprehensive compensation for waiving the entitlement of a fully expensed car, which also comprises the consumption of fuel, and thus any further related allowance is precluded as it is considered as constituting a double payment of the same benefit," the office said.
It said it had noted shortcomings with respect to overtime, adding that total compensation for overtime worked during 2014 amounted to €20,157, the majority of which, totalling €16,084, was paid to five officials.
The audit also revealed instances where payments to employees were either unauthorised, not properly supported by evidence or inaccurate.
Other shortcomings, particularly to inventory management, were also noted.
Concerns with respect to the filing of documents led the Office to question the completeness of information made available during the audit.
Remuneration awarded exceeded ministerial approval
The remuneration package awarded in the contract of employment of the Financial Controller engaged on the basis of trust, endorsed on 14 January 2014, was equivalent to the Ministerial approval obtained from both the Ministry for Education and Employment and also the Ministry for Finance. This was tied to salary scale 6, starting at €24,057 per annum.
However, within two weeks, the financial package was revised upwards, resulting in an unauthorised increase of €6,709 for the year under review.
No further approvals were made available, but Management claimed that the salary of the Financial Controller was brought in line with that of the other directors.
MCST replies
The Malta Council for Science and Technology, on behalf of the Foundation for Science and Technology, welcomes this opportunity, presented by the National Audit Office, to identify areas where it can improve its operations, as it strives to ensure good practice, fairness and transparency in all of its activities. Apart from matters which MCST is in the process of addressing or which MCST intends to address, it gave us great satisfaction to see that a number of potential risks identified in the Management Letter for the year ended 31 December 2014, were found to be already addressed in 2015.