Court of Accounts finds Cahul economic potential has been poorly managed

While possessing a significant economic potential, Cahul district remains heavily reliant on state subsidies, with its own revenues covering just 23.4% of its spending in 2011, according to an audit report by the Court of Accounts. Rapporteur Ion Plesca told the Court of Accounts' meeting on Thursday that the situation is partly due to the fact that the local and district authorities made little effort to strengthen the fiscal base and to their failure to accurately estimate potential revenues. Spending was also poorly managed, according to the report. For example, the district authorities failed to accurately calculate the number of beneficiaries in the district's education system, creating large disparities among school meal allocations. However, the worst was the public property management: the local authorities in Cahul do not know exactly how much land they have under their administration; there are many buildings and facilities which are not properly registered with the cadastre authorities and thus do not yield revenues. For example, 45 gas pipes estimated at a total of 66.2 million lei are not properly registered and are administered by their operators without contracts, meaning that neither the state nor the local authorities have any financial benefit from their operation The Court of Accounts also revealed irregularities in privatization deals. One such example is a fish farm in Crihana Veche. The village's mayor Rodica Cucereanu says that the new owner of the farm is still unknown and that despite the facility being located on public land, the local authorities have no benefits from it. Cahul district head Avram Micinschi said that the stock in the fish farm belonging to the Crihana Veche village hall was put under the hammer multiple times, its price being cut each time because no one showed interest in it. When the price dropped to 48 lei per share, a buyer finally appeared, but the name remains a mystery. “Here is an example of an illicit scheme, when a facility whose worth was initially estimated at 16 million lei is depreciated to be sold for less than 0.94 million”, said Court of Accounts president Serafim Urecheanu. Cahul district head Avram Micinschi and Cahul Mayor Petru Burlacu said that throughout the audit they cooperated with the Court of Accounts to finally register some of the public assets. Further, local authorities were warned to remove the deficiencies found by the audit.