A payment made by the Competition Authority to a private bailiff has caused the State Budget an economic damage of about 3 million lek, or about 31 thousand euros, according to an audit by the Supreme State Audit Office.
The case concerns the implementation of a court decision that overturned a previous decision of the Competition Commission. For the entity identified in the report with the initials “M.” sh.pk, the SAI found that over the years only 5,571,497 lek had been collected, although the total liability according to the Authority’s decision was 66,088,573 lek.
Following the court decision, the Authority returned 8,693,597 lek to the bailiff, i.e. 3,122,100 lek more than the amount that was actually collected.
According to the documentation reviewed by the KLSH, the bailiff had divided the returned amount into 5,571,497 lek of executed obligation and about 3.17 million lek of enforcement fee. The auditors found that in the payment practice, no invoice was initially attached to justify the fee in this amount; after a request for information, an invoice from the bailiff addressed to the private entity itself was presented.
The SAI calculates that, for the amount of 5,571,497 lek that was actually executed, the applicable fee according to the instruction on private enforcement fees should have been 183,859 lek including VAT, or 2.75% of the amount executed.
After deducting this fee from the difference of 3,122,100 lek, the auditors arrive at an overpaid amount of 2,938,241 lek, which they classify as economic damage in the State Budget.
The SAI also emphasizes that the court decisions did not charge the Competition Authority with the payment of the enforcement fees invoiced to the private operator. Likewise, the deficiency was the lack of an order from the head of the institution for the payment, while the budget implementation rules stipulate that a court decision is not liquidated without the approval of the head of the institution.
In this case, the SAI recommends that the Authority pursue all administrative and legal measures, including all levels of trial, to collect 2,938,241 lek from the private bailiff. The case should also be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for the relevant administrative measures.
The Competition Authority, in its observations on the draft report, stated that it had acted based on its legal interpretation, but had also requested interpretation from the National Chamber of Private Bailiffs and had informed the Ministry of Justice. The institution stated that it would undertake administrative and legal measures to return the amount. The SAI assessed that the Authority had agreed with the findings and recommendations of the audit. /ekofin.al
