GAC audit traps Ministry of State

A compliance audit by the General Auditing Commission of the Supplementary Payroll of the Ministry of State links Sylvester M. Grigsby, and Deputy Minister Cornelia Kruah-Togba to misappropriation of over 11 million and nearly One Million Liberian Dollars.

By Lincoln G. Peters 

Bong Mines, Liberia, May 30, 2025 – The Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, Cornelia Kruah-Togba, has confirmed the General Auditing Commission’s Compliance Audit of the Ministry’s Supplementary Payroll System.

The audit indicts Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Sylvester M. Grigsby, and Madam Kruah-Togba for alleged corruption amounting to US$11,520,821.7 and Liberian Dollars 964,766.21, including illegal hiring of 74 Supplementary Payroll employees. 

The objective of the Audit is to provide intended users with information on whether the audited public entity follows legislative decisions, laws, legislative acts, policy,

established codes, regulations, and agree-upon terms and to report in terms of the GAC reporting requirements, as spelled out in part four (4) of the GAC Act of 2014. Findings and conclusions will be submitted to the National Legislature and the Office of the President.

Also it seeks to gather sufficient and appropriate audit evidence on whether the MOS Supplementary Payroll Systems with special emphasis on (a) recruitment and placement; (b) pay grade; (C) appraisals and promotions; (d) separation and turnover; (e) existence of staff and (f) Internal Control Systems reference to supplementary pay-roll are in all material respect, in compliance with relevant laws, legislative acts, regulations, policies, established codes, and agree-upon terms. 

The GAC in its report released under the signature of the Auditor General, P. Garswa Jackson, covering January 2018-to December 2024, under its Personnel’s Existence, covering the period under review said that the current Management of the Ministry of State did not make available the newly hired supplementary personnel for verification by the audit team. 

Hence, they were unable to verify the physical existence of the seventy-four (74) newly hired supplementary personnel of 2024, which the report stated that the Management’s action is a breach of Regulation T(5) (1) of the PFM Act.

Furthermore, the report disclosed that the current administration has been paying the illegally hired employees a combined salary of over US$36.000 monthly that wasn’t budgeted for, taking it from a line item that says “consultancy”, with the GAC auditors unable to physically see the 74 new hires, despite giving the ministry additional time before publication of the report, and other concerning findings.

The GAC further stated that the basis for adverse conclusion, they identified multiple issues of significant materiality that affect the operations of the Supplementary Payroll System of the Ministry of States for Presidential Affairs, with personnel Records and Documentation Management expended US$(3,506,271.00) in excess of its approved budget for supplementary personnel for the fiscal periods under audit.

“There was a variance of US$(4,537. 69) between the gross salary per the close-out payroll and the gross salary per the personnel listing for the periods.

No evidence that the unpaid cheques of US$76,440.00 belonging to seventy-four (74) staff who were not paid during the close-out exercise due to lack of evidence to authenticate the legitimacy of their employment was voided, and the amount retained in the entity’s account as required. Management did not maintain approved monthly payroll journals, debit instructions, associated bank statements and all relevant supporting documentation for salary transactions amounting to US$7,933,573.01 and L$ 964,766.21 recorded in the IFMIS Ledger for the fiscal periods under audit”, the report concluded. 

The Report on internal Control Related to the Supplementary Payroll System of

MOS, identified significant deficiencies in the internal control system, including

lack of segregation of duties and inadequate authorization in the MOS payroll management system.

The GAC audit In addition, discovered that there is no approved Human Resource Policy and Procedures to guide the human resource activities at the entity and Management did not adopt the Civil Service Standing Order to guide its human resources activities. MOS Job Description Policy Document which outlines the job description of various positions at the entity was not finalized, approved and operationalized during the periods.

The report further indicated that there is no training and development plan for the entity’s staffs. There is no evidence that monthly payroll originated from the Human Resource Unit and forwarded to the Finance Unit for processing. Further, no evidence that the payroll journals were subsequently submitted to heads of department/units to review and corroborate salaries to be disbursed to personnel of their department/units prior to the payment of salaries.

The GAC notes that these deficiencies are pervasive and increase the risk of fraud and errors, thus compromising liability of the Ministry of State’s internal control system.

But, responding to the GAC report on her official Facebook page, Deputy Minister for Administration Cornelia Kruah-Togba, confirmed the General Auditing Commission Compliance Audit of, but said they are working with the Civil Service Agency to have those employees cataloged. 

She argued that hiring of 74 “supplementary staff” – the difference is that the payroll that was closed by the Ministry of State had 721 individuals who had no employment letter from the Ministry, signed no contract with the Ministry and had no attendance records, as most of them did not actually work for the Ministry.

“In summary, the MoS has a Special Payroll transitioned to the CSA that will mirror the CSA payroll but leave room for transitions of government. These individuals have employment letters, contracts and the files submitted to CSA are ongoing verification and other processes in line with their employment procedures. Please note that these responses were provided to GAC but were considered inconsequential for the purpose of auditing as they consider existence” she stated. 

In addition to this, according to her, individuals occupying positions of confidence and security to the President and other political appointees were added on the CSA payroll as Civil Servants. 

Madame Kruah said that these include, staff from the President’s Office, staff at the President’s house, staff from the First Lady’s office, personal staff from the Minister and other political appointees offices including drivers. 

Atty. Kruah-Togba further contended that according to the Civil Service Standing Order, these individuals cannot be replaced or dismissed, therefore, this means even when transferred from these sensitive posts, these individuals must remain in the employ of the Ministry. Editing by Jonathan Browne