A recent report by the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) has revealed LE 3-billion financial irregularities in the Suez Canal Authority's final account from July 2007 to June 2008. The report, of which Al-Masry Al-Youm got a copy, has said the government got LE 1.4 billion, 5% of the canal's revenues, after linking them to the authority's budget on the basis of gross income. These notices have been referred to the Judiciary for discussion.
The authority said it disbursed some LE603 million as bonuses for its staff, but it was discovered that only LE 602.811 million has been disbursed. The report has revealed another LE 5.64-million irregularities under the pretext of bonuses for workers and engineers. In addition, there have been LE 1.1-billion irregularities in capital transfers and LE 12.5-million irregularities in investing securities in the public sector companies, the report said, pointing to an LE 1.3-billion increase in debts, up 864% from the approved. This is attributed to the failure to settle LE 1.2 billion in deposits of the canal's tolls.
The report called for knowing the reasons behind shouldering the authority burdens that are not listed in the approved budget, pointing to an item called "various service expenses" that allocates about LE 6.1 million for the clubs' activities, of which some LE 2.2 million are cash appropriations for the authority's football club.
The report has also uncovered LE 268,000 irregularities in the item of compensations and fines.
