17.09.2020

NOVO GORAŽDE FROM IGNORING AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADVERSE AUDIT REPORT

 From 2006 to 2019 the Supreme Office for the Republika Srpska Public Auditing conducted four audits of Novo Goražde Municipality. Instead of seeing progress that would have been achieved had the audit recommendations been followed, after receiving qualified opinions in 2006, 2010 and 2015 for failing to implement the recommendations from the earlier audit reports, the situation aggravated and led receiving an adverse audit report for financial performance in 2019.

Lack of accountability on the part of the local government is seen in the fact that in 2018 the Supreme Office for the Republika Srpska Public Auditing gave negative conclusion about implementation of the recommendations listed in the 2015 report. Instead of serious reaction of the local executive and legislative authorities, things became even worse in 2019 and no one was held accountable for a number of serious failures.

The Financial Audit Report for 2019 states that Novo Goražde Municipality has failed to comply with the provisions of the Law on Public Procurement to publish on its website the fundamental elements of the contract for procurement of additional services for repair of the local roads. Also, the contract was concluded after completion of the works – which is an additional violation of the legislation and is a signal for other competent institutions to engage in additional investigations.

Additionally, the audit indicates that violations of the Law on Public Procurement and Law on Treasury have occurred as well as violations of other rulebooks and instructions regulating financial performance. The 2019 audit report includes 22 recommendations with a comment that the Mayor of Novo Goražde is responsible and accountable for compliance with both local and international standards on financial performance.

The Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI) would like to remind that according to the Republika Srpska Law on Public Sector Audit, Novo Goražde Municipality is required to send response to the Supreme Office for the Republika Srpska Public Auditing within 60 days of the submission of the audit report indicating which actions have been taken to overcome the errors and irregularities established in the audit report. 

We expect to see involvement of the RS National Assembly Audit Committee, which has control mechanisms, to analyze audit reports in order to determine the way to eliminate the identified irregularities, and to stop the bad practice of not following the audit recommendations.

The project “More Effective Public Audit for Less Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is implemented by the Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI) with the financial support of Sweden. The project aims to contribute to more responsible spending of the budget funds and less corruption in the public institutions in BiH.