103. Arrears of Revenue  104. Audit Inspection – Department of Housing, Gaborone  Although the Ministry has through the Department of Housing, collected substantial revenues through leases of Government quarters  in the year under review, there has been tardiness in the follow-up of  collections of arrears of revenue under these accounts. The collection  rate is indicated in the table below:-  An audit inspection of the accounting records maintained by the  Department of Housing on pool houses allocated to Government by  Botswana Housing Corporation on rental basis had shown instances of  weaknesses and other shortcomings in the management of these  houses. The findings included the following-  In another instance, an officer in the Department had allocated  institutional pool houses to members of the public without following the official procedure, for personal gain. The officer  (b) Two instances of fraudulent use of pool houses had been noted. In one instance, an officer of the former Ministry of Lands and  Housing had allocated himself 14 pool houses and sublet them,  and thereby collected a total of P805 900 in rental for his  personal benefit in the period between 2014 and 2018. In the  process of the Ministry preparing his terminal benefits, the officer  had refused to sign the liabilities schedule in acknowledgement  of debt. While the case is being followed up for the criminal  aspect, it has also been referred to Attorney General for assistance in recovering the fraudulently obtained money.  (a) The rental for houses allocated to public officers is paid by  deductions from the salaries of those officers, but where this is not  possible, the rental is paid directly to the Department. An  examination of the rental collection records had shown that  there were delays of up to 6 weeks in banking the collections  received, contrary to the provisions of Financial Instructions and  Procedures which require more frequent banking of all revenue  collections.  82  Revenue Balance Collection % Item 01/04/2017 2017/18 Collection Private Leases  81 000   -  0  Pool Houses  1 217 954  109 453  9  Institutional and District Houses  40 942  -  0  House Maintenance Fees  2 863 