The accounting agency conducted investigations at all four sections of the department namely department that handles and process working permits, medical cards and social aid.
The aim of the investigation SOAB says that eventual problems must be scrutinized and corrected, since the executive council felt that this would be of vital importance to St. Maarten when she achieves her country status.
The executive wanted the department to function and process applications within the legal period stipulated under the law. SOAB says their aim was to compile a correction plan geared towards optimization of the internal command with regards to the issuance of working permits.
SOAB said they conducted several test cases to be able to compile their report. Some 131 working permits files were evaluated, 81 of them from the year 2008, and 50 from 2009. They inspected 50 dossiers that were submitted for financial aid, 25 files from 2008, and the other 25 from the year 2009, while 50 medical assistance files were examined, 35 of them from 2008 and 15 from 2009.
Inventories were conducted on the relevant laws and ordinances as well as internal procedures on work permits, medical assistance, and financial aid. SOAB also interviewed the sector director and the department head during their investigation.
SOAB said they focused on the accuracy of the primary registration, the present functional divisions, and the division of authorizations. They were eager to determine who was authorized to sign off on working permits, the person responsible for acceptance criteria, the judging of the criteria and the applications. Timely handling of the applications, accuracy of the tariffs for the working permits, dispensing of medical aid, as well as financial assistance. They also looked to see if adequate and acceptable guidelines were used in handling the dossiers.
SOAB concluded that the interim head of ARSOZA only follows part of the rules and regulations of the department. They felt that sufficient control was not conducted. Proper processing was also hindered due to the lack of information.
SOAB said they noticed that the interim head of the department acted as application controller, which created a risk factor. SOAB says the department head took over all rights to process certain permits. This they said was not proper since proper logging was not applied. The interim head told SOAB controls are done by the financial controller and not ARSOZA. However, SOAB feels these controls should be conducted by the VSA. Another discrepancy noticed by SOAB is that the interim head can give out working permits outside of the system since these permits are drafted in Microsoft word document, are printed on regular paper, and is signed by the interim head. SOAB believes the way the current system is set up several risks presents itself if the tasks are not clearly outlined. They felt the situation and current system has empowered the interim head. They said same advantages are also available to all of the ARSOZA employees. SOAB made clear that insufficient controls are conducted on the documentations provided by the applicants for working permits.
Below is the full content of the report submitted to the executive council by SOAB to the executive council of St. Maarten. We apologize to our English readers.
