TIRANA, Feb.1 – The Supreme State Audit has revealed an appalling abuse of public funds in the last four years. The greatest abuses of taxpayers’ money were caused by tax collectors, customs and public procurements. The total damage caused to the state budget during this period stood at Euro 919 million, according to SSA.
The head of the SSA Bujar Leskaj said during a presentation of the annual analysis this week that financial damage to the state increased eight-fold in the last four years compared to the previous period, while at the same time the number of officials referred to prosecution increased three times. According to Leskaj, the proposed removal from office of high state officials accused of corruption or acting against the public interest has been ignored. “Many officials are still kept in administration regardless of abuse with public funds,” Leskaj declared.
General Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla also present at the conference evaluated the partnership between the Supreme State Audit and the prosecution office. “SSA is our main partner in the fight against financial crime. The arrest of former labor minister Spiro Ksera came after he was referred to us by the Supreme State Audit,” Llalla declared. Llalla encouraged the state audit to keep uncovering abuses in the public administration, while adding that every public official who abuses power must be held accountable.
Meanwhile, President Bujar Nishani said that corrupt officials cannot incriminate the entire state. “The responsibility of anyone who abuses power is individual and you should be tough against them,” the President declared. The sectors where the greatest abuses were evidenced were taxations (Euro 92 million), customs (Euro 31 million) and public procurement (Euro 19 million). For the period January-December 2015 Supreme State Audit has carried out 174 audits, out of which 158 are final.
The institution says that a total of 51 cases involving medium and high level officials were referred to prosecution including a minister, the general secretary of a ministry and three mayors. The focus of the institution’s audit activity for 2016 will be concessionary agreements as well as public debt
