The damage assessed by the Audit Office in its audit reports for last year amounts to 568 million lei. On the other hand, more than 50% of the recommendations formulated in these reports are not implemented and no person holding responsible jobs in the audited institutions has been held accountable since 2006. The data are contained in the study “About how public money is lost: monitoring of the implementation of the Audit Office recommendations for 2012” that was made by the analytical center Expert-Grup, IPN reports.
Coauthor of the study Tatiana Savva told a news conference that the damage for last year estimated by the Audit Office is 1.5 times higher compared with 2011. “If such a rate is kept, the damage in 2013 may rise to 1 billion lei, being caused by the indifference of the audited state institutions and enterprises, which do not take into account the recommendations made by the Audit Office,” said the expert.
The study says the steps taken by the hierarchically superior bodies to foster the implementation of the Audit Office’s recommendations are insufficient, while the law enforcement bodies do not react. The legislative body adopted practically no decision on the reports of the Audit Office, except for the financial report on the fulfillment of its own budget.
Angela Pascaru, a member of the Audit Office, said there are no leverages for improving the process of implementing the recommendations formulated in the audit reports. “We have been trying for a year to promote a bill that empowers the Audit Office to impose administrative penalties on the managers of institutions where irregularities are discovered in the use of public money and public patrimony,” she stated.
Oleg Gamushcheak, of the National Anticorruption Center, said the Consultancy Council that involves a number of institutions, including representatives of civil society, should be revitalized so that it dealt with the problem of implementation of these recommendations. “The measures that we can take together within the Council should be prophylactic so that they prevent irregularities in the use of public money,” he stated.
The study “About how public money is lost: monitoring of the implementation of the Audit Office recommendations for 2012” was carried out by Expert- Grup within the project “Budgetary process in the Republic of Moldova: monitoring of transparency and promotion of public control”, which is financed by Soros Foundation Moldova.