Almost a year has passed since the departure of the international Auditor and the Auditor General has not yet selected. The Assembly session held last week voted against the proposal of the President, while continuing to create a fertile ground for the corruption. “It is very important that this frivolous approach of the politics changes, as this is resulting on many institutions remaining without leadership,” said Artan Canhasi – Program Manager of Transparency and Anti-Corruption at KDI. It is the responsibility of the parliamentary parties and MPs to select the Auditor General and to provide vital functionality of the state institutions. The obstructive approach towards this process is being harmful to the independent institutions.
The OAG audit reports of various institutions in the area indicate elements of misuse and mismanagement of public resources, cases which may be considered as criminal offenses. Reports speak for unintentional mistakes, but for which nevertheless accountability should be requested.
Although there are indications that the prosecution intends to step up their efforts, it is important that the fight against the corruption is systematic as the nature of the corruption in the public procurement is systematic.
Canhasi said that “the main priority of the Auditor General on the selection criteria should be strengthening of the rule of law through increased cooperation with the prosecution and the Police’s Economic Crimes Unit by placing mechanisms for regular exchanges of information between the OAG and the Justice Institutions”.
Isuf Zejna – KDI Project Coordinator said that “the number of violations in procurement is extremely high and it should alert the Government Institutions and especially the justice institutions”. There have been 537 complaints by the businesses deposited in Procurement Review Body, 265 of which were returned to the contracting authorities for re-evaluation and re-tendering, 40 complaints were withdrawn, while only 181 of those complaints were processed as regular activities and the institutions were deemed right. The most frequent irregularities are encountered during the evaluation phase of the tenders, design of the tender dossier such as unclear terms or lack of clear specifications and criteria.
Public Procurement Regulatory Commission has continued monitoring the contracting authorities in the procurement field. On the 36 institutions they have monitored, PPRC has found over 660 violations of the law and procurement procedures whereas, beside all these violations, the number of people who are faced with criminal penalties or had their procurement licences withdrawn is extremely small.
Zejna also said that “the trend of procurement process closeness is problematic in comparison to the previous years. Transparency reduces corruption, however in Kosovo is the opposite case. “Acquisitions worth 282 Million Euros were conducted through open tendering procedures, while the rest of the funds were committed using restricted procedures such as 81 Million Euros using the negotiated contracts, 21.8 Million Euros through quotations, and 2.8 Million Euros in minimal value commitments. Compared to 2011, the downfall of the open tendering procedures is almost double since in 2011 the value committed through this procedure was 457 Million Euros.
Additional material from the press conference
Examples of findings by the Auditor General during the audit of the institutions:
The Ministry of Education has contracted additional works to the base contracts from the previous years in total amount of € 750.333. MEST has violated the Law on Public Procurement, respectively Article 35.
In the Ministry of Finance were identified cases of split requirements in order to keep the amounts under the given threshold to avoid open procedures. This Ministry should set an example of good management of public money. But, at the moment it sets a bad example.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were observed cases of split requirements, too. 34 out of 43 contracts have been committed through the Price Quotation, respectively using closed procurement procedures.
Violations to the Law on Public Procurement were also found in the Municipalities. For example, the Municipality of Prizren had acquisition a used car in the amount of € 9,800. The functional specifications used for this purchase “Supply with one used car” were in Kriteret e përdorura në procedurën e prokurimit për „‟Furnizim me një veturë të përdorur‟ were in violation with the Law on Public Procurement. The tender criteria were favored by determining that the vehicle should be used, year of production shall be 2009 and mileage of 129,000 km.
Even the Body that handles complaints about public procurement was found in violation. The Auditor found that in the case of the Procurement Review Body the officer who drafted the technical specifications for the contract for IT equipment supply, was a member of the evaluation and revaluation committees and the same was appointed as the contract manager.