More Responsibility and Transparency
The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) has followed with attention the notifications in the media and that have been reflected in the relevant High State Audit (HSA), which talks about a series of denunciations by this independent constitutional institution, about damages that have been caused to the state budget in very large amounts, in billions of Leks.
The HSA is the highest institution for economic and financial auditing that carries out its activity on the economic operations of state institutions, the use and preservation of state funds, etc. Data published in the daily press not only about the amounts of damages caused, but also about the areas or sectors that have been the target of audits are important and disturbing. Such data have to do with key sectors of the state’s finances such as the taxes department, customs, procurement, etc.
Another fact that draws AHC’s attention is that the institutions in which significant violations have been observed with harmful consequences, do not make statements, nor demonstrate transparency, although such a problem is of public interest.
AHC deems it necessary to mention this also due to the fact that the results of HSA audits for the first six months of 2017 are also accompanied by several recommentations. The institutions to which these recommendations are addressed have not reflected publicly about their implementation.
It is not AHC’s duty to comment or analyze how much founded the findings and conclusions of HSA are or how much legally founded the cases denounced to the prosecutor’s office, sent to court, not initiated or dropped are. However, AHC views as positive the fact that HSA, in keeping with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, has applied the right of appealing in court eight cases that the prosecutors have dropped. The exercise of the right to appeal in court, in our opinion, will have a positive impact on judicial oversight on the investigative actions carried out by the prosecution office and might minimize the effects of impunity for criminal offenses releated to the misuse or abuse of state funds.
