SABOR: PROCESSING OF IRREGULARITIES DETECTED BY STATE AUDIT IS SLOW

SABOR: PROCESSING OF IRREGULARITIES DETECTED BY STATE AUDIT IS SLOW ZAGREB, Oct 5 (Hina) - Parliamentary benches and working bodies at the Croatian Sabor on Thursday warned the processing of irregularities detected by the state audit was too slow, but they voiced support for the work of the State Audit Office and its audits carried out in 1999. The number of irregularities is decreasing but problems such as unauthorised spending, the avoiding of public tenders for the purchase of goods and services, the unauthorised seeking of loans on the local and state level and the absence of a complete list of state property are recurring, State Auditor Sima Krasic said presenting the report. The revised spending amounts to 86.5 million kuna (about US$10.29 billion) which is more than one half of Croatia's Gross Domestic Product, Krasic said adding that in the future audits would focus more on effectiveness in spending money. She also urged the State Treasury to assist the State Audit in this. The deputies requested, as in previous years, that the audit findings be forwarded to the offices of the State Prosecutor and the State Attorney, Interior Ministry and the Financial Police. The MPs objected that those bodies were too slow in processing irregularities identified by the State Audit and asked that the lower house be informed about the measures that were being taken by those bodies. The parliamentary benches also voiced dissatisfaction with the functioning of the system of internal control of the state administration. The lower house will this afternoon also discuss reports on audit findings in the ministries of defence and interior and foreign affairs. Audits have also been carried out in state companies, units of local self-government and pension and health insurance funds. (hina) rml