No System to Verify Documents Requesting Income Support Allowance: Audit

The Auditor General’s Office has revealed that there is no adequate system to verify documents submitted by those requesting income support allowance from the government due to COVID-19.

The audit report notes that the policies on issuing income support dictate that if the person currently receives an income less than MVR 5,000, the government will reimburse the remainder.

According to the report, there is no national-level system to verify that the person requesting income support allowance does not have an alternate source of income. The Ministry of Economic Development is also reportedly facing difficulties in assessing the validity of documents requesting income support allowance.

As the Economic Ministry’s and other administrations’ systems were not linked, it is unknown whether those given income support allowance during the first and second phase had an additional source of income, said the report.

It also notes that those receiving income in cash are not in the financial system, so there is no way to judge their total income when requesting income support allowance.

The Economic Ministry stated that connecting the ministry’s and other administrations’ systems has revealed 217 people acquired support through fraudulent means, and owe the state MVR 409,969.

The audit report read that as per the ministry, several efforts have been conducted to ensure the validity of the documents from those requesting income support.