The Finance Department said in a statement it acted swiftly on a report about impropriety of an official allegedly found to have included her personal expenses in the official costs of a recent technical workshop funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked the unnamed director of the department to immediately return to ADB the exact amount corresponding to her personal expense that was inappropriately included in the workshop’s budget.
An investigation conducted by the DoF in cooperation with the ADB showed that “based on the contract that was signed between the ADB and Edsa Shangrila Hotel dated July 17, a dinner for 40 persons hosted by the director was inappropriately included,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said despite explicit instructions given to the director to conduct the workshop at the Ayuntamiento de Manila in Intramuros without dinner and charged to the department’s regular budget, the official decided on her own without prior clearance to have the event held at Edsa Shangri-La and funded by an ADB-administered Technical Assistance facility.
“I have also accepted the resignation of the official,” said Dominguez.