Last week this newspaper argued editorially that resignations, supposedly the epoch of democracy, accountability, and transparency, are somewhat hard to come by for people in authority as the lack of accountability continues to be an elusive symptom that baffles the majority of us. The lack of accountability concerning the case of internal fraud at the Value Added Tax, however, verges on the outrageous considering the audacity with which the scam was being effected and the lax checks and balances in such a sensitive revenue collection office. On this particular case, government has argued that the persons responsible were brought to justice and that should suffice in terms of accountability and political responsibility. To a certain extent justice has been done and sentences delivered for the crimes committed but society cannot tolerate serious flaws in the system such as those which existed prior to when the case was discovered.

VAT, an important measure for the country’s economy, features in every budget and fuels government expenditure; thus adequate control on the system, especially within the Department, should have been an important measure. In a nutshell, government, which has been practically in office ever since introducing the VAT system, failed to ensure that the department was adequately staffed and had the necessary measures implemented and in practice to lessen the possibility of abuse and fraud.

A report drawn up by a board of enquiry, appointed after the case of internal fraud had been discovered, listed several shortcomings in the general administrative framework of the department. Considering the period of time that this department has been functioning, one would expect that the people employed in managerial grades within the VAT Department would have identified these shortcomings and brought these to the attention of the authorities concerned to avoid the possibility of any abuse. Nevertheless, personal and political responsibility has not been assumed by any person while the director general responsible for the department promptly issued an elaborate statement last week to exculpate himself. The fact remains that a case of internal fraud was proven in court as documents related to companies that owed money to the department were actually converted to make it seem that the department actually owed the companies refunds. What still has to be explained sufficiently and credibly is the fact that the people employed within the department, in various grades, failed to realise of the fraudulent actions occurring within the same building. Thus, the notion that justice has been done literally conveys a false sense of security rather than the necessary comfort that such a case of fraud is not repeated.

Government has cited that various measures have been implemented to rectify the various shortcomings which were discovered within the operations of the VAT Department and time will tell whether these measures sufficed to lessen the possibility of a similar case occurring again.