By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Office of the Auditor General commended the Ministry of Tourism for its implementation of the Bahamas Travel Visa Programme, an initiative the Progressive Liberal Party criticised last year.

Auditors found some discrepancies in accounting records for the programme and concluded the Ministry of Tourism opened a Bank of the Bahamas account with payment processing company Kanoo in contravention of the law, which requires that the Minister of Finance approve any such action that involves public funds.

However, Auditor General Terrance Bastian did not uncover evidence of fraud or grave mismanagement.

 He offered rare commendation in his report, saying: “We want to commend the Ministry of Tourism for its vision and implementation of the Bahamas Health Travel Visa. It assisted The Bahamas in monitoring the movement of people travelling during the pandemic. During such extraordinary times government needs to be creative, flexible without jeopardising good governance (transparency and accountability).”

 The PLP criticised the Minnis administration’s decision to give a no-bid contract to Kanoo for the travel visa programme last summer. At the time, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, then the opposition leader, accused the Minnis administration of helping FNM insiders with the contract award. Dr Nigel Lewis, a co-manager of the Free National Movement’s general election campaign, was associated with the company.

 The Auditor General’s report on its examination of the programme was tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday.

 According to the report, several companies were engaged to help with the programme. Think Sample completed the software for the online platform; CG Atlantic Insurance provided travel insurance to visitors; Ports International provided Rapid Antigen Tests on day five of arrival; Alpha Tango managed the approved testing labs and Day 5 tests and Kanoo executed payments to vendors monthly based on Ministry of Tourism instructions.

 Auditors found that the contracts were not executed in accordance with the Financial Regulations 1975, which requires that all contracts for supplies, workers and services by the government in excess of $250,000 be approved by cabinet. There was no competitive bidding and services initially began with a verbal agreement only, not written contracts. Tourism officials justified this by emphasising time constraints.

 Data from the Ministry of Tourism indicated 906,171 users applied for the visa, including 704,868 visitors and 201,303 residents. A net amount of $10,784,204 was sent to the consolidated fund for the tenth month period of the programme, which began in November 2020.

 “Management acknowledges that net revenues were not transferred to the consolidated fund on a timely basis,” the report says. “Reconciliations and transfer of funds to the consolidated fund were not done on a timely basis. In the absence of performing reconciliation functions in a timely manner, errors, fraud and/or irregularities could possibly go undetected.”

 Auditors also concluded that there was excessive time between the revenue collection and accounting for transactions in the Treasury Financial Management System.

 “COVID-19 necessitated some realities that are not reflected in the financial regulations,” the report says. “The Ministry of Tourism failed to comply with the regulatory requirements for the procurement of goods and services. Seeking competitive bids is a mechanism intended to provide some assurance as to the reasonableness of costs of goods and services. Considering the cost of the travel insurance to CG Atlantic of $16,782,895, representing 48.7 percent of total revenue, it would have been prudent to test the marketplace by seeking at least one other quote despite the pressing time limitations.”

 The report adds: “Controls and the accuracy and reliability of accounting and reporting needs to be improved. Controls such as timely reconciliations, risk assessments, documentation of vulnerabilities and assigning ownership and responsibility for corrective action can go a long way in reducing risks to acceptable levels. The accounting records are producing some differences/discrepancies of up to $62,471 in understatement of revenues which management deems as immaterial, but the reciprocal of this essentially can represent up to 2000 visitors which may indicate a need to examine the cause of this and improve operational practice.”