COA finds undeclared gold, silver, diamonds in Bureau of Treasury vault | News | GMA News Online

State auditors have discovered millions worth of gold, silver and diamond pieces stashed in a vault of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), which remain unrecorded on its list of assets.

In an audit report recently published on its website, the Commission on Audit (COA) said that among the undeclared items discovered in the BTr vault were a collection of silver coins, a pair of gold watches, gold pens and a few diamond pieces.

The COA said that aside from the diamonds, all the other items remain unappraised and unrecorded in the BTr’s list of assets.

“These items were never appraised nor recorded in the BTr’s books since they were surrendered to the BTr resulting to the understatement of the total assets reflected in the Financial Statements,” the COA said in its “2013 Audit Report of the Bureau of Treasury.”

The COA said that based on the BTr records, the diamond pieces were valued at P2,143,267. The COA, however, pointed out that the gems were last appraised in November 2008, thus the value of these diamonds may be much higher now.

The COA, therefore, recommended to the BTr to "engage the service of a reputable appraiser” to determine the current value of these gems.

Meanwhile, the COA noted that 166 pieces of silver one-peso coins and 412 pieces of various foreign currencies were never appraised and were just listed under “other assets – arts, archeological specimen and other exhibits” in the BTR’s book of records.

The pair of gold watches, which, the COA noted, bear the faces of the late Former President Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos, were also never appraised as well as the two gold pens.

The COA report did not provide details on the original owners of the discovered items, although the diamonds were listed in the BTr book as “escheated items.”

Escheated items refer to objects whose ownership were transferred to the government in the absence of valid claimant or the failure of the owner to pay fees.

The COA further noted that these discovered items were not insured with the Government Service Insurance System.

The COA pointed out that under Administrative Order No. 33 of August 27, 1987, all government agencies are required to insure with the GSIS all items of value in their respective agencies to protect the state’s interest in the event of loss, theft or damage.

“To date, there is still no appraisal conducted for the diamonds and other valuable items and these were not insured in compliance with AO 33 dated August 27, 1987,” the COA report said.

The COA, meanwhile, noted a positive response on the part of the BTr management on the recommendations raised in the audit report. The COA said that in a memorandum dated May 15, 2014, the BTr has already ordered its Asset Management Service to have the diamonds insured with the GSIS.

The BTr management likewise issued a directive to publish an invitation for jewels/antique appraiser to assess the value of all the discovered items. — RSJ, GMA News