Deloitte to audit government debts to private companies

TIRANA, Oct. 4 – The Albanian government has contracted accountancy giant Deloitte to audit unpaid bills and arrears the central government owes to the business community. Deloitte, famous in Albania for auditing the pyramid investment schemes in 1997, will be paid Euro 85,000 for the audit of unpaid bills to the business community which has turned into a hot topic in Albanian politics with the opposition claiming unpaid bills are five times lower compared to what the new Socialist Party-led government pretends.
The audit, which will cover debts until the end of last August just few days before a new government took over, is expected to conclude by the end of next November.
Deloitte, which was selected by the Albanian government through direct negotiation, says the audit will not be carried out in compliance with International Standards on Auditing, and as a result, it will not take responsibility on the financial information because of lack of field verifications.
“We have selected a negotiated procedure with a prestigious audit firm and we have agreed on how the debt will be identified and we target that in a relatively short time we will be able to make clear the claims of the ministries and of the business community, confront them, and have a clear evidence,” said deputy Finance Minister Ervin Mete speaking this week at the parliamentary economy committee which approved the draft law.
Ilirjan Celibashi, the Minister for Relations with Parliament, said public institutions will undertake a verification process after the audit concludes before paying off the debts.
The Albanian government and the IMF say government owes private companies 55-60 billion lek (Euro 382 to 416 million) in unpaid government bills and arrears.
Meanwhile, former Finance Minister Ridvan Bode who was in charge of the country’s public finances for the past eight years says government owes the private sector only 11 billion lek (Euro 76 million) in accumulated unpaid bills.
The Finance Ministry has invited private companies to declare their debt claims online from October 2 to 20. However, only a dozen of companies are reported to have declared their debts online.