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The KLSH audit reveals serious violations in forest management, non-competitive procurement and questionable construction permits in the Municipality of Saranda...
The Municipality of Saranda appears to be mired in scandal. During an audit, the Supreme State Audit Office revealed a total lack of transparency and serious violations in the management of public assets, procurement and construction permits.
According to the official report of the Supreme Audit Office, the financial statements are missing a full 5,133 hectares of forests and pastures that were transferred to the Municipality by decisions of the Council of Ministers, with a total value of over 83 million lek. 8 ownership certificates were issued for these assets in 2023, but they were not reflected at all in the financial accounts, causing the municipality's budget to lose over 62 million lek in revenue.
On the other hand, the Municipality has spent 17.3 million lekë for 26 artistic and cultural activities, without conducting any procurement procedure, in clear violation of the law on public funds. For road reconstruction tenders, 8 cases have been identified where the winners were announced in violation of legal criteria; restrictive criteria for participation have been set and firms with incomplete documents have been announced winners, causing an additional economic damage of over 32 million lekë.
The situation is also alarming in the construction sector, where permits have been issued without the necessary technical documentation and with unjustified delays. The SAI notes that territorial inspectors have not followed the procedures for construction without permits; in some cases, suspension orders have not even been issued and fines have been imposed illegally.
The Saranda scandal confirms a widespread phenomenon of abuse of powers and lack of institutional control in local government. The Supreme State Audit has requested urgent measures and referral of the case to the justice system. While the citizens of Saranda expect concrete accountability, the silence of the institutions only increases suspicions about a well-structured abusive network.
The findings of the HSE
-No committees have been established to conduct asset verifications for account 211 "Forests, pastures, plantations" which is presented in the financial statements in the amount of 83,323,719 lek.
- A report has not been drafted regarding the physical inventory of assets, a preliminary assessment of their quality and storage conditions, physical condition and remarks regarding the nature of whether there are differences or not in the condition of the assets.
- Appropriate measures have not been taken to reflect in the financial statements in the relevant account a total of 5133.81 ha are not registered, of which 430.9 hectares of forest areas and 783.3 hectares of pasture areas transferred in its favor according to the relevant DCMs. During 2023, 8 ownership certificates of the type of pasture and forest property were obtained, which are not recorded in the financial statements for 2023 in account (211).
- Due to the failure to take the necessary measures by the local taxes and fees unit, missing revenues amounting to 62,061,075 lek have been created.
- In 26 cases, artistic projects and cultural activities worth 17,315,695 lek were developed, for which procurement procedures were not carried out.
- Deficiencies were found in all cases regarding the drafting of qualification criteria and specifically the incorrect application of the value measure for the presentation of similar works in all cases, failure to substantiate or analyze the need for the number of employees, or the number of machines required in all cases, application of unnecessary criteria and outside the scope of the contract, which limit the participation of operators in 8 cases, failure to include in each case the entire set of documents related to the guarantee of similar works, or failure to include specific trades in each case, despite the fact that according to the items of works such are needed and specifically, regarding the procurement objects "reconstructions or rehabilitations of roads".
In 8 cases, KVO has declared economic operators with deficiencies in fulfilling the qualification criteria as winners, both during the assessment of self-declarations and during the verification of the physical documentation submitted by the winners. In total, actions and inactions related to public procurement procedures or their avoidance caused a negative financial effect in the amount of 22,142,400 lek, as well as an economic damage in the amount of 9,928,993.36 lek, for unfinished works, due to the implementation of works and services contracts.
- From the audit of the procedures for approving construction permits and certificates of use, it was found that in all cases, the technical and accompanying documentation of the construction project is not complete. Also, delays were found in the review of applications, beyond those provided for in the legal and sub-legal provisions. In relation to the approval of certificates of use, problems were found such as the lack of a license of the inspector, the contract with the works supervisor, as well as his license, the relevant act for urban waste management, the final status of the works, the 'as built' project, the project for the maintenance of the facility, the final certificate of the energy efficiency audit, etc.
- Regarding the activity of the Inspectorate of Territorial Protection, it is noted that not in all cases the inspectors have respected the procedures provided for in keeping the minutes of findings, as well as the complete and accurate documentation of the offense. Although there are minutes of findings for constructions without a construction permit, kept by the Field Inspectors, the Chief Inspector of IMTV has not followed the procedure for collecting the amounts of the obligation according to the files of the subjects. In 4 cases, the decision to suspend the works was not issued.
In 71 cases, the value of the administrative measure of fine was determined unfounded in the legal and sub-legal provisions. In at least 6 cases, the findings made by IMTV inspectors were classified (by the chief inspector) as works for which it is not necessary to obtain a building permit, while the opposite is true. In four cases (building permits approved and facilities are under development) it was found that the developer did not respect the approved project, and IMTV did not take measures for these subjects, etc. / Pamphlet
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