The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) registered a total loss of $11.79 million from the liquidations of three of its investments with a total cash outlay of $14.768 million.

This is a revelation from the 2020 Auditor General Report.

The report therefore urged management to investigate the non-performance of the investments with the aim of ensuring value for money.

“We urged Management to investigate the nonperformance of the investments for all with the aim of ensuring value for money and ensure that officers whose action led to the loss are appropriately sanctioned for the loss. We further urged Management to ensure that, effective feasibility studies are carried out before investing”, the report stressed

Despite the requirement of Section 90 of the Public Financial Management Act 2016, the Auditor General Report said the Trust has not received any returns in the form of value appreciation or dividend in its investments in nine listed and six unlisted companies.
It therefore urged management to take an effective decision on the companies to avoid further loss.

Again, “we urged management to investigate the nonperforming investments of the 15 companies and ensure value for money is achieved. We also advised management to perform thorough feasibility studies before undertaking any investments of like nature.”

Continuing, the report also noted that management of the Trust could not collect from the Finance Ministry, the divestiture proceeds of $626,522.47 from the Divestiture Implementation Committee since 2012.

This was the proceeds due the Trust, after the sales of its 13.60% equity stake in Subri Industrial Plantation Limited (SIPL) to Plantation Socfinaf of Belgium.

“We urged Management to step up efforts to recover the amount (US$626,522.47) from the Ministry of Finance and DIC”, the report pointed out.