MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has been flagged by the auditing body over P43.6 million in bank credit transactions unsupported by necessary documents.
“The reliability of collections amounting to P43,583,544.34 recorded under Cash in Bank – Local Currency, Current Account (CIB-LCCA) could not be established due to lack of supporting documents,” the Commission on Audit (COA) said in its annual audit report for 2022.
The COA reported that OSG’s 2022 Bank Reconciliation Statement showed the agency has P57.8 million cash in bank balance under its CIB-LCCA.
A huge chunk of OSG’s cash in bank balance – amounting to P43.5 million – was unsupported by necessary documents such as credit memoranda and notices of payments or remittances from the concerned agencies.
“Upon verification, bank credit transactions totaling P43,583,544.34 were not supported by Credit Memoranda and notices of payments from various agency-clients of the OSG for the payment of honoraria to lawyers rendering legal services,” the COA said.
“In view thereof, the identity of the lawyers and concerned remitting agency-clients could not be determined, thus rendering the year-end balance of the account CIB-LCCA unreliable,” the audit body added.
The COA noted that OSG’s management agreed to the audit recommendation to require its chief accountant to facilitate the submission of notices of payment and remittances.