Millions of dinars of public money has been squandered away, says a Bahrain national audit report presented to parliament yesterday.

The National Audit Court's report for 2009 reveals violations and irregularities by a number of ministries, government bodies and institutions.

Half of ministries and institutions also failed to provide the Finance Ministry with audited accounts in time, our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej quoted the report as saying.

Irregularities in 2008 cost the nation BD47 million ($124.65 million), when seven ministries did not have any internal audits.

According to the report, general debts topped BD1.8 billion due to the absence of a risk management policy.

Bahrain International Circuit lost money in almost all races and functions it organised over two years, it says, also pointing out delays in the Circuit drawing up its financial data.

According to the report, the Culture and Information Ministry appointed non-Bahraini staff on special contracts with monthly salaries of BD5,000 to BD 9,000. It also spent more than BD3 million on a music festival and paid a singer 164,000 euros (BD81,260), whose contract included a penalty clause in her favour.

Tamkeen also supported sectors not included in its strategic plans and backed activities that didn't benefit Bahrainis, the report says.

The report reveals that a number of hotels and furnished apartments had been operating for a long time without licences.

The report also lists waste of public funds due to a lack of planning in government projects and irrational trips and functions organised by municipal councils. - TradeArabia News Service