Despite Improvements, Lax Recordkeeping Opens Potential for Fraud, Ghost Employees
Arlington, Va. - The Office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction today released an audit showing that Afghan National Police payroll costs and force size cannot be fully verified due to unreliable Ministry of Interior recordkeeping.
SIGAR noted that the ministry continues to make progress toward automating the payroll and payment processes. Despite this, SIGAR found little assurance that payments are made only to eligible Afghan National Police personnel, and little assurance international funds are used only to reimburse eligible police payroll and other costs. SIGAR's report makes several recommendations to improve Afghan National Police accountability.
"Building an Afghan National Police force capable of enforcing the rule of law and protecting the Afghan people is vital to U.S. strategy in the region, including transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government by the end of 2014," said Herbert Richardson, acting Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
"Accurate recordkeeping is crucial to the success of this effort. There has been some progress. But until adequate systems and controls are in place, there will continue to be significant risk of fraud, waste and abuse of international funds intended to support the Afghan National Police."
Background:
Since 2002, the United States and other international donors have contributed roughly $1.5 billion to the Law and Order Trust Fund, established primarily to cover Afghan National Police payroll costs. The United States has contributed more than $545 million to this fund, administered by the United Nations Development Programme.
Current Afghan Ministry of Interior plans call for increasing the Afghan National Police force to 134,000 by October, up from 81,509 in May 2009.
SIGAR's audit assessed whether the Ministry of Interior's personnel systems accurately account for the Afghan National Police workforce; whether the payroll system accurately accounts for Afghan National Police payroll; and whether personnel and payroll systems being developed will support the Afghan National Police and be sustainable.
Key findings:
- The Ministry of Interior cannot determine the actual number of personnel that work for the Afghan National Police because it has been unable to reconcile the number of personnel records or verify the data in four different personnel systems and databases. The Ministry of Interior's systems and databases contain basic Afghan National Police personnel, biometric, identification card, and registration information and its human resource records are currently being automated. However, these systems and databases are decentralized and the records and data in them are incomplete, unverified, and unreconciled.
- Although the Ministry of Interior continues to make progress toward automating the payroll and payment processes, its payroll system provides little assurance that only those Afghan National Police personnel who work are paid and that Law and Order Trust Fund monies are only used to reimburse eligible Afghan National Police payroll and other costs.
- The Ministry of Interior has taken many steps to address Afghan National Police accountability, but significant risks of fraud, waste, and abuse of funds contributed by the international community will continue unless controls address the following:
- The Ministry of Interior, with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme, has established individual payroll accounts for almost all Afghan National Police, but 21 percent of Afghan National Police personnel still receive payroll by cash payments. The number of Afghan National Police personnel in the Ministry of Interior's payroll system does not match with the numbers found in the ministry's various personnel management systems.
- The United Nations Development Programme has reconciled Afghan National Police payroll and food allowance costs between Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Finance systems, but cannot ensure that only eligible Afghan National Police costs are reimbursed.
- The United Nations Development Programme and its independent monitoring agent have not provided sufficient evidence that all Law and Order Trust Fund audit findings have been resolved; the fund's statement of cash position did not include an opinion of available international donations in the United Nations Development Programme's combined bank account.
SIGAR makes five recommendations intended to:
- Improve United Nations Development Programme monitoring and oversight of the U.S. and other international donations to the Law and Order Trust Fund.
- Address development of Ministry of Interior personnel and payroll systems to help ensure they provide consistent and reliable Afghan National Police workforce data and payroll costs, and ensure that only eligible Afghan National Police costs are reimbursed with Law and Order Trust Fund monies.
The audit report, including SIGAR's recommendations and responses from the U.S. Embassy and the Commanding General of NTM-A/CSTC-A, may be found on the SIGAR website in https://www.sigar.mil/.