The Ministry of Finance had the highest irregularities among federal ministries in fiscal year 2022/23, according to the 61st Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General.
According to the report made public on Sunday, the finance ministry accounted for 54.74 percent of irregularities in all federal ministries during the review year.
Next were the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, accounting for 25.99 percent, 6.71percent and 2.19 percent of total irregularities in federal agencies.
Likewise, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Water Supply, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs accounted for 2.98 percent, 1.64 percent, 1.3 percent, 1.16 percent and 0.83 percent of total irregularities by federal agencies. Likewise, other ministries accounted for 2.58percent of the irregularities.
According to the report, 2.03 percent of total accounts audited in 2023/24 were categorized as 'irregularity'. The report states that Madhes Province had highest irregularities with 3.67 percent, while Sudurpashchim Province (0.79 percent) had the lowest.
Among local units, 2.72 percent of total accounts audited in 2022/23 were categorized as irregularity. Out of 753 local units, 644 had less than 5 percent irregularities and 103 had 5-15 percent irregularities. More than 15 percent of audited accounts of one local unit was categorized as irregularity.
According to the report, 39.03 percent of federal agencies and 29.84 percent of provincial government agencies audited in 2022/23 didn't have outstanding irregularities.
The audit of federal, provincial, and local government offices (including outstanding irregularities) revealed 192,583 cases of irregularities, out of which 74,128 cases were theoretical irregularities, and 105,005 cases were outstanding irregularities.
