TIRANA, Feb. 4 – Albania’s High State Audit has uncovered 24.5 billion lek (Euro 171 million) in abuses by central and local government institutions during controls carried out in 2014. Controls unveiled 11.2 billion lek (Euro 78.5 million) in financial violations on income and spending and around 13 billion lek (93 million euros) in financial discipline violations during the 2011-2013 activity of the audited institutions and the first three quarters of 2014, the watchdog said in a report.
The majority of violations, some 2.1 billion lek (Euro 15 million), was uncovered in the sale and rent of state property, the overwhelming majority of which in the Energy and Industry Ministry in concession contracts for failure to collect penalties on investments and submission of project implementation.
Second ranked the customs administration with 941 million lek (Euro 6.6 million) of abuses, mainly in the Durres and Vlora customs points.
The State Audit also uncovered 678 million lek (Euro 4.7 million) of abuses in public procurements and 278 million lek (Euro 2 million) of abuses in the tax administration.
Some 41 people, mostly local government officials, have been sued for damage estimated at around 5 billion lek (Euro 35.5 million).
