Parliament told of misuse of 1.6 billion leks

The head of the Supreme State Audit has told the Parliament that the total amount lost to the state budget by the misuse of public funds for the first quarter of 2007 was 1.6 billion leks ( $15 million). The focus of the problem remains the tax authorities and the customs office. However, the work of the SSA has improved with a reported change of 76 percent efficiency compared to the previous 40 percent following the implementation of new policies. Head of SSA, Robert Ceku, has said there are some concerns about the latest initiative for the Internal Audit as an institution that will have duplicate abilities.