The Auditor General’s office has expressed disappointment in the financial statements of the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Auditor General Junias Kandjeke in his audit report issued an adverse financial audit opinion on NSFAF, saying the fund failed to give his office a true and fair reflection of its financial position for the financial year in question.

“The fund does not even have an appropriate internal basis for the preparation of its financial statements. Therefore, auditors as well did not have any suitable criteria for auditing NSFAF’s financial statements,” stated the auditor general.

Kandjeke further noted that the fund’s financial statements indicated to his auditing team that NSFAF is a small and medium-sized entity, yet the institution is a classified public funding organisation.

It was also found that NSFAF had written off about N.dollars 9.6 million it used to purchase devices in the 2020-2021 financial year, while there was no directive or a special resolution from the board of directors in this regard.

The auditors were also dismayed to discover that the fund paid two salaries concurrently for the position of chief executive officer (CEO) while the CEO was on suspension with pay and someone acted in the position.

A payment of nearly N.dollars 148 million to several local universities by NSFAF to settle students’ accounts without any supporting documents was another shocking discovery.

“Fourteen students were also overpaid with N.dollars 5 000 each, amounting to N.dollars 70 000, which was presented to the auditors as a double payment error,” said Kandjeke.

An adverse financial audit opinion means that NSFAF had misrepresented and misstated the financial performances of the company to the auditors.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency