The Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has discovered widespread fraud in the public payroll division, where dozens of bogus employees cost the state close to $800 million annually.
The IGF discovered significant discrepancies, including tens of thousands of bogus employees, after auditing the government’s payroll.
The IGF stated in a statement dated Thursday that the monthly loss of earnings sustained by the Treasury amounts to 148,999,749,440.95 Congolese francs (or 66.2 million dollars). This is in reference to the audit performed by its services.
Over 145,000 paid agents have “incorrect, fictitious and manufactured registration numbers for payroll purposes,” according to the Congolese public finance watchdog.
Additionally, more than 40,000 agents receive payments even though their names do not appear on the services’ declaratory lists, and more than 90,000 agents share the same registration number with other paid agents.
The IGF has pledged to provide the list of 961 state agents involved in this “mafia network” to the judicial authorities.
According to the same source, “some cases of obvious irregularities are subject to deactivation” on the public services payroll already.
The DRC’s budget is anticipated to be 16 billion dollars for 2023.
The nation has abundant natural resources, but poverty is pervasive. According to the World Bank, about two-thirds of the nation’s 100 million residents make less than $2.15 per day, which is the worldwide poverty threshold.
According to Transparency International’s 2021 ranking of 180 nations, the nation comes in at position 169.
