In a startling revelation, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has brought to light the failure of the office head to carry out mandatory checks of cash book transactions resulted in fraudulent entries and misappropriation of Rs 11 lakh by the cashier in the River Navigation Department.
The CAG report stated that the department had various sources of revenue receipts viz, traffic receipts, workshop receipts, renting of jetties and ramps, Right to Information (RTI) fees, etc. The cashier was responsible for issuing printed receipts for all inflows of cash/demand draft/ financial instruments on government accounts and recording them in the subsidiary cash book. All transactions in the subsidiary cash book were to be subsequently recorded in the main cash book and thereafter periodically deposited into the treasury.
An audit scrutiny on October 4, 2021 of the cash book and other records from April 2018 to September 2021 revealed the irregularities. It was observed that the transaction values of cash received as recorded in receipt-books were under-reported in the cash book by Rs 3,39,651. Two cheques/DD of Rs 1.20 lakh pertaining to hiring charges revenue in May 2018 were not accounted for, on the receipt side of the cash book while the remittance was accounted on the payment side on August 14, 2018 so as to reduce the overall cash balance by Rs 1.20 lakh, the CAG stated.
In another case, a DD of Rs 10,000 in May 2018 was not accounted for on the receipt of the cash book while its remittance was accounted for on the receipt of the cash book, while its remittance was accounted for, on the payment side on August 14, 2018 as Rs 1 lakh instead of Rs 10,000 to fraudulently reduce the overall cash balance by Rs 1 lakh (Rs 90,000 under remittance plus Rs 10,000 unaccounted receipt). This resulted in depiction of the short receipt of cash amounting to Rs 2.20 lakh in the cash book.
There was a case of recording the same remittance twice.An abstract contingent bill of Rs eight lakhs was drawn in cash on October 1, 2019 of which Rs 3,21,925 was remitted back on October 14,2019 and Rs 4,78,075 was spent on fuel. The remittance of Rs 3,21,925 was accounted for twice on the payment side (one under the cash column and the other under the AC-bill column). This resulted in fraudulent reduction of the overall cash balance by Rs 3,21,925. The remittances were recorded without actual payment. During 2019-20, two remittances of value Rs 2,18,905 were recorded on the payment side of the cash book without actually effecting payments as revealed from the details of remittances/challans from the directorate of accounts, Goa for the year 2019-20. This resulted in fraudulent reduction of the overall cash balance by Rs 2,18,905.
The failure of the HoD to exercise the mandatory checks on cash book transactions as prescribed in financial rules weakened the internal control and facilitated misappropriation of revenue amounting to Rs 11 lakh.