Only one person that violated legislation on use of public money was sanctioned

The inappropriate examination of the violations of the legislation and the non-sanctioning of persons who misused the public money are some of the objections formulated in a study that focused on the implementation of the Audit Office’s decisions and the integrity of its auditors. The study was carried out by Transparency International – Moldova (TI-Moldova) and was made public on November 2, Info-Prim Neo reports. The study includes the results of the monitoring of the implementation of three decisions passed by the Audit Office and of the survey of representatives of 44 Chisinau public institutions about the quality of the control, internal audit and integrity of the Audit Office’s auditors. According to Efim Obreja, expert TI – Moldova and author of the study, the 44 institutions implemented only partially the Audit Office’s decisions. Despite multiple violations identified, only one employee of the National Population Support Fund was disciplinarily punished. No one was sanctioned administratively or criminally. The opinion polls showed that 52% of the representatives of the public institutions highly appreciate the objectivity of the Audit Office’s auditors, while 64% consider that their professionalism is high. 84% said the auditors have an amiable and respectful attitude towards the representatives of the examined institutions. 80% said they do not know cases when the auditors of the Audit Office misused their authority. About 28% of the respondents said the Audit Office ensures the confidentiality of the information only partially, 48% consider that the independence and impartiality of the auditors is average and low, 20% believe the actions and decisions of the Audit Office might be influenced by functionaries and politicians, while 8% said they know cases of corruption or of conflicts of interests in the Office’s work. The study recommends guaranteeing the independence of the Audit Office and of its representatives in decision making, introducing responsibilities and sanctions for the use of information obtained by auditors for personal purposes, informing the public about the measures taken to implement the Audit Office’s decisions, implementing internal control systems, reducing the length of the Audit Office’s audit and extending the time offered to public institutions for studying and approving the Office’s report. The court’s president Ala Popescu said that the Audit Office aims to be a reliable partner of TI-Moldova in combating corruption and that the presented study commissioned by the Office is a proof that the institution she heads realizes the necessity of cooperating with the civil society and that transparency is the basic working principle of the Court. She underlined the necessity of improving the legislation and removing the shortcomings and not admitting decisions that run counter to the legislation. [Info-Prim Neo note]: The study focuses on the Audit Office’s decision of 18.12. 2007 concerning the report on the results of the legality of granting preferential loans to certain groups of people, the decision of 19.12. 2007 concerning the report on the inspections carried out at Moldova’s embassies and the decision of 21.02.2008 concerning the report on the formation and utilization of the National Population Support Fund and local funds.