21.10.2020

WITHOUT SANCTIONS OR CONSEQUENCES: INSTITUTIONS IN THE BRČKO DISTRICT OF BIH ACTED CONTRARY TO 65 DIFFERENT LAWS

At the press conference today, Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI) presented the findings of the Public Audit Process in Brčko District 2015-2018 Analysis. Among many issues, CCI highlighted the inefficiency of the public audit process, lack of legislative framework, negligence of the audited institutions to correct the irregularities, as well as the responsibility of the Assembly and Prosecutor’s Office of Brčko District to engage in the audit process more actively. 

Namely, in the period of four years, the Audit Office in Brčko District developed 110 financial audit reports of which 31 reports with positive opinion, whereas 79 reports were with reserved or negative opinion. In four-year period, the audited institutions with negative and reserved opinion spent approximately 994 million 247 thousand BAM of public funds, whereas the audit reports show that the institutions acted in violation of 65 different laws 365 times, and in violation of 97 bylaws 339 times.

The biggest irregularities were noticed in the public procurement process, the analysis found that almost all audited institutions acted at least once in violation of legal regulations in conducting the public procurement process. It stands out that the Office of Public Property Management, the Department of Education and the Public Company Radio Brčko received negative audit opinions for three consecutive years, while the Office of Public Property Management, the Department of Education, the Department of Economic Development, Sports and Culture, the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Health and Other Services have the largest number of unimplemented recommendations. Even though the Audit Office issued 1687 recommendations for removal of identified irregularities, the institutions implemented only 33% of recommendations, and were not sanctioned for lack of removal of the remaining irregularities. Also, in 37% of cases, the institutions did not submit a program for the elimination of observed irregularities within the legal deadline. On that occasion, CCI pointed out the need for more efficient public audit process in Brčko District, which requires, alongside to responsibility of audited institutions to correct the irregularities and implemented auditor's recommendations, a more active approach of Brčko District Assembly in review of audit reports and launched investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office. 

Namely, audit reports will affect the increase of efficiency and transparency in public funds spending only if bodies in charge of acting per audit reports implement appropriate measures, which will “force” the institutions to spend public funds in a more responsible manner. In the upcoming period, CCI will actively engage in this issue, trying to identify the area for improvement of the process, together with other actors, which would eventually lead to a more efficient spending of public funds.  In addition, the specialized web portal Revizije.info is available to the public, with its focused on the topic of audit, ie control of the spending of public money and the work of public institutions and companies in accordance with the law.

Project “More Efficient Public Audit for Less Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina” “ is implemented by the  Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI) financed by Sweden. The Project aims to contribute to a more responsible spending of budget funds and reduction of corruption in public institutions in BiH.