Delinquent recommendations slightly up this year

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Recommendations by the Office of the Public Auditor that remain delinquent slightly went up by 13 percent, according to the six-month tracking report issued by the agency Tuesday.

The report, which covered the period from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2004, said that approximately $1.35 million could potentially be recovered as long as the Attorney General’s Office acts on the cases. Another $4.6 million is potentially recoverable if the various government agencies involved act on them.

The OPA said the money that the government can potentially recover includes unpaid rentals of land leases, overpayments in professional services contracts and retirement benefits, and improper expenditure of public funds.

“Initial actions by agencies resulted in partial recovery of $997,243 and one claim of $6,503 in accrued interest on public funds advanced for CDA’s [Commonwealth Development Authority] parking lot improvements was fully recovered, leaving a balance of $4,644,235,” the report said.

A total of 67 audit recommendations were made by OPA during the six-month span. Out of the number, nine were closed and 58 have remained either open or resolved.

It, however, said that 36 out of the 58 are considered delinquent. A recommendation is considered delinquent if it has been outstanding for at least 180 days and OPA has not been informed of any action taken to implement the recommendation.

A breakdown of the tracking report shows that, of the agencies audited or investigated, the Department of Finance showed the highest number of delinquent recommendations with a total of 11. Next is the AGO with eight, which includes its oldest delinquent recommendation dating back to 1995. Northern Marianas College came in third with a total of seven delinquent recommendations.

The Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund ranked fourth with five, Marianas Public Lands Authority was sixth with four, while the Office of the Governor only had one delinquent recommendation, the report said.

Aside from the delinquent recommendations, the OPA also reported that nine audit recommendations were closed. It said that recommendations were implemented accordingly by the agencies, establishing policies and procedures and through issuance of memoranda and directives to reemphasize the need to comply with existing laws and regulations.

OPA also reported that it closed two recommendations due to jurisdictional reasons, statute of limitations, and several other reasons. One recommendation was closed due to the full recovery of funds.

In a letter attached to the report from Public Auditor Michael S. Sablan, the OPA incorporated agency responses to follow-up letters, which the agency received on or before Nov. 15, 2004. The response letters received resulted in the closure of nine audit recommendations.