News in English     | 24.01.2020. 15:20 |

Some 160 audit reports of BiH institutions pending adoption

FENA Alma Zukanović

SARAJEVO, January 24 (FENA) - Deputy Auditor General of the Audit Office of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jasmin Pilica, explained today that about 160 audit reports have not yet been adopted because of delays in the work of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

At a conference titled "Effective Public Audit for Reducing Corruption in BiH", organized today by the Centers for Civic Initiatives and the Embassy of Sweden in BiH in Sarajevo, Pilica emphasized that the Office has worked in accordance with their dynamic, which is fully in line with the law.

Speaking about the audit reports for 2018, Pilica emphasized that they had audited all 74 institutions, and that they had six 'qualified opinions', of which four were ‘reserved opinions demanding due notice', two ‘reserved opinions', 55 'attention-requiring opinions', while 12 opinions were characterized as 'affirmative'.

“According to our data, about 60 percent of our recommendations have been implemented,” Pilica said, adding that it was very difficult to evaluate which recommendation was implemented and which was half-implemented.

He noted that the Audit Office cooperates with the prosecutor offices, but that their primary role is to give an independent opinion on the financial statements and the harmonization of the functioning of the institutions.

“Our reports are detailed and all prosecutors can find in them all the necessary indicators on the commission of potential criminal offenses,” Pilica concluded.

A representative of the Committee on Finance and Budget of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, Predrag Kožul, believes that according to the Audit Office, the situation looks very good, but it must be taken into account that 'qualified opinions' were given to those institutions which have a large budget.

“Part of the recommendations of the Audit Office is of a systemic nature since they are in the field of political issues, such as the issue of state property in the BiH Ministry of Defense. This is the main reason that they have received ‘reserved opinion' but they cannot solve the problem on their own,” Kožul emphasized.

He praised the cooperation of the Committee and the Audit Office, noting that this Office is the best in the region, but largely thanks to international assistance.

Director of the BiH Public Procurement Agency, Jasmin Salčin, said that in 2018 and 2019, they filed 25 misdemeanor charges against those responsible for the misuse of public procurement, while in January 2020, they filed six charges.

“There are many cases of misuse and violations, and I want to emphasize that everyone must act responsibly,” said Salčin, adding that they are constantly working to educate officials, judges and prosecutors on public procurement, because, as he claims, this represents an enormous problem.

Director of the Development Cooperation Department at the Swedish Embassy in BiH, Torgny Svenungsson, believes that the audit of public institutions is a very important topic, as it helps to improve transparency, efficiency and enable the implementation of the rule of law.

The conference brought together representatives of BiH audit institutions, parliamentary committees, competent prosecutor offices, public institutions and civil society.

The conference was also an opportunity to present a specialized web portal on the audit, control of public spending and the work of public institutions and enterprises. The web portal www.revizije.info contains databases on financial audits in the last four years.

(FENA) S. R.

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