MBABANE – Following the discovery by the AG to the effect that there was around E80 million unclaimed payments, most of which were paid as bail, the PAC has demanded a proper breakdown. This is contained in the Public Accounts Committee’s Recommendations on the Auditor General’s Financial Audit Report on Government Accounts for the financial year ended on March 31, 2024, which was tabled in Parliament recently.
In terms of background, the AG, Timothy Matsebula, uncovered that there were unclaimed sundry departmental deposits amounting to E80 992 043.72 at the end of the financial year ended March 31, 2024, under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. In his report, the AG noted that this account was used for recording bail deposits for pending court matters or unclaimed bail deposits in cases where the court matters have been finalised. In this regard, Matsebula said only balances relating to pending matters and unclaimed finalised bail amounts should remain in this account.
He said it was therefore expected that the Judiciary would have transferred unclaimed bail deposits whose cases were finalised over five years ago or the fines in cases where bail deposits had been converted into fines, to the Government Revenue account.
According to Matsebula, the controlling officer submitted that the funds were made up of third-party payments which are claimed once the court cases are finished and bails. The controlling officer, the AG said, submitted that some of the bails have been converted into fines.
In its recommendation, the PAC, which is chaired by Mhlangatane Member of Parliament (MP) Madala Mhlanga said it emerged during the public hearing that it seemed a lot of people were not aware that they are supposed to claim their bails after winning their court cases while those who are aware encounter challenges when they attempt to claim back their bails. “The controlling officer is, therefore, urged to come up with a mechanism to notify the public about their right to claim bails at the conclusion of their trials if found not guilty or to convert the bails into fines if found guilty,” the PAC has recommended. It also urged the controlling officer to also submit a detailed report within three months after adoption of the report, clarifying how much of the E85 million is unclaimed bails, how much has been converted into fines and how much bail is for pending cases. In an almost similar finding by the AG, it was reported that the same ministry had unclaimed or unremitted sundry departmental deposits (collections) amounting to E28 525 607.12, as at March 31, 2024.
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