MUSCAT, OCT 3
The annual audit of government and public sector institutions yielded a total of RO 17.8 million in recoverable dues owed to the state treasury in 2022, thy State Audit Institution (SAI) revealed in its report on Monday.
According to the report, the bulk of these recoveries, amounting to RO 14 million, came from various state authorities, investments and state-owned enterprises, while the remaining RO 3.8 was collected from government units.
In an interview featured on Oman TV, Senior Control Specialist and Director General of Legal Affairs, Shabib al Busaidi, explained the difference between fund collection and recovery.
According to Al Busaidi, fund collection refers to the process of collecting amounts due to the General Treasury, through "taxes, contracts or similar matters." Recovery, on the other hand, refers to "the retrieval of funds that have been disbursed and spent from the State's General Treasury." In terms of tax collection, the report indicated that several companies failed to adhere to the Income Tax Law and its Executive Regulations. It noted that income totaling RO 206.7 million was not included in their tax returns.
Out of this total, RO 112.2 million is attributed to companies that have not submitted tax returns, as a result of which they were not assessed for tax. Additionally, some companies “intentionally” did not disclose revenues totaling RO 95.4 million in their submitted tax returns. The report indicates that these cases are currently under examination.
Furthermore, certain companies failed to adhere to the provisions for deducting withholding taxes on revenue totaling RO 23.6 million. According to the report, RO 726 thousand has been collected so far on this amount, while the rest is currently in the process of collection.
In terms of recovery, the State Audit Institution addressed 113 “financial and administrative irregularities” cases in 2022. The term encompasses various corrupt practices including: bribery, document forgery, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of position, misuse of public funds.
In terms of embezzlement, an assistant director of property credit in a government company was convicted of embezzling RO 78,830 through forgery, while another government employee embezzled a total of RO 66,642 in fuel filling cards through by misusing their position.
Additionally, three other government employees were convicted of embezzling amounts of RO 14,400, RO 8,299, and RO 4,146 respectively. These employees were prosecuted and ordered to pay back the stolen amounts.
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