LOWER HOUSE ENDS DEBATE ON STATE AUDIT OFFICE REPORTS

LOWER HOUSE ENDS DEBATE ON STATE AUDIT OFFICE REPORTS ZAGREB, Oct 5 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of Representatives on Thursday evening concluded a debate on reports on audits examining last year's work of the ministries and many state companies and institutions, but without voting, as an insufficient number of MPs attended the end of the debate. Most MPs were very critical of the State Audit Office findings, slamming the state institutions' thriftlessness, unauthorised spending, the employment of new staff without the government's permission, and the avoiding of public tenders for the purchase of goods and services. Some pointed to numerous cases of subsidised housing loans granted in state institutions. Civil servants pay only a small portion of interest rates on these loans, while the institution subsidises the rest, said the MPs, adding this way not a proper way of spending taxpayers' money. Many MPs wondered why nobody had been called to account for illegal activities in the work of ministries and many state institutions to which past audit reports had pointed. Several MPs asked why there had been no audits in Homeland Defence War associations in which large-scale embezzlement had allegedly been rampant. State auditor Sima Krasic said audits would soon be launched in 29 such associations. She explained the State Audit Office could not press charges against persons responsible for illegal activities in work, and that this was the duty of the state prosecutor's office and other state institutions to which audit reports are submitted. (hina) ha