Moldovan parliament hears annual report of Court of Accounts

Chisinau, 16 November /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament today heard the annual report by the Court of Accounts on the management and use of public financial resources and public assets.  

At the meeting, the president of the Court of Accounts, Veaceslav Untila, said that the document referred to the period October 2017 – September 2018 and included the financial audit and government’s reports on the implementation of the state budget, state social insurances budget, mandatory health insurances accounts and ministries’ reports on the carrying out of the budgets in the budgetary year which ended.   

Also, the audit activity regarded the public resources, allocated mainly to the fields related to the transport services, food safety, residents’ social support, environment and air’s quality, administration of taxes, functionality of information system, etc. “In the report, we have identified the present risks in the management of public resources and formulated proper recommendations,” Untila said.     

Under the document, the Court of Accounts confirmed the financial information related to assets worth over 36 billion lei, incomes amounting to 29.3 billion lei and expenses worth more than 28.7 billion lei.

On the concerned period, the institution submitted to law-enforcement bodies materials on 13 audit missions with suspicions of fraud. They relate especially to the eligibility of beneficiaries at the approval of financial support for payment; purchasing of equipments which do not fully fit the specific character of the entity’s work; unjustified increase of the costs of works for renovation and construction of buildings against the prices initially contracted; irregular contracting and purchasing of assets;  distorting the expenses related to the labour remuneration; arbitrary establishment by the beneficiary of the guarantee period for repair works carried out, etc. Following the examination of materials submitted to competent bodies, two criminal files were opened, three refusals in starting criminal prosecution were issued and eight materials are under consideration.

The parliament took note of the report and, in its decision, it found out that the present framework of book-keeping and financial reporting from the public sector contained a string of deficiencies. The domestic public financial control failed to fully achieve the general goal to consolidate the managerial responsibility for the optimum management of resources. The concept of managerial responsibility, including the financial management and control, is still not fully enforced. At the same time, the report shows that the wage payment system enforced in the budgetary sector is fragmented and difficult to manage and most ministries audited pay little importance to public procurement.