The Supreme State Audit audit has found a high level of liabilities and shortcomings in the administration of public funds by the National Inspectorate for Territorial Protection, mainly related to lost court cases and the manner of execution of court decisions during the period 2020–2024.
According to the audit report, in this period, a total of over 554 million lek were liquidated for liabilities arising from legal proceedings, while by December 31, 2024, the total remaining liabilities for these proceedings amounts to approximately 1.1 billion lek.
Of this amount, 1,026,254,890 lek represent liabilities for final court decisions, 46,722,762 lek are enforcement fees and 18,288,702 lek are court expenses, which have directly burdened the institution's budget. The audit has found that the method of settlement of these liabilities has not been in accordance with the principle of payment according to the FIFO method, while due to the high values, payment in installments has often been applied.
For 2024 alone, unpaid liabilities amount to 536 million lek. This amount includes nine court decisions for compensation for the demolition of buildings in the amount of 530,828,294 lek and two decisions for compensation for mobile phone expenses in the amount of 6,013,005 lek. According to the audit, the highest level of liabilities was recorded in 2022.
Although during 2024, arrears decreased by 14,693 thousand lek compared to the previous year, the report shows that during the same year, new liabilities were created in the amount of 24,639 thousand lek. In relation to the total expenses of the institution for 2024, which were 722 million lek, the unliquidated liabilities of 536 million lek constitute about 74.2% of them, according to the agreements with the Treasury Branch.
The Supreme State Audit Office assesses that the payments made for the execution of court decisions and for enforcement obligations indicate an ineffective management of budgetary funds. The verification of expenditure orders results in the execution of court decisions being carried out with delays from the date of the decision to the moment of the payment orders, while in some cases the bailiffs' invoices were not attached.
These practices, according to the report, conflict with several legal and sub-legal acts that regulate the financial management of public institutions, including the Ministry of Finance's instructions on standard budget implementation procedures, the law on financial management and control, the law on budget system management, and the instructions for reporting financial statements of general government units.
To avoid additional costs to the budget, the audit recommends that the institution's Legal Department continuously monitor the progress of legal proceedings and ensure timely notification of the finance sector for final decisions, in order to plan funds and avoid penalties for delays.
At the same time, the Finance Directorate is recommended to draft a repayment plan for arrears, in order to improve the management of public funds and reduce the financial burden that these obligations create on the institution's budget. /ekofin.al/
