| Work Detail |
The municipality of Vrbas paid RSD 29 million in 2018 contrary to the Law on Public Procurement and paid RSD 12 million above the authorized amount for employees, the State Audit Institution (SAI) has determined.
Also, indirect beneficiaries of the municipality during the year 2018 incurred expenditures in the amount of RSD 3 million which were not approved by the Budget Decision.
The SAI also found that the Mayor had issued a resolution authorizing the Mayor to increase his salary by 20 percent for January 2018 in the name of "stimulation". The same increase was stimulated by the Secretary of the Assembly and the Deputy Secretary of the Assembly. On this basis, the Mayor received a 30 percent increase. The Mayor has also appointed an advisor, although by law he has the right to appoint only assistants who have been paid a salary of RSD 1,337,761 during 2018.
An increase in salaries was also ordered for 142 persons employed by the municipal administration for January, on the grounds that they were engaged in the field work of the list of illegally constructed objects. However, in the course of the audit, official orders for fieldwork were presented, but without documentation confirming that the persons mentioned were indeed in the field .
Several commissions that worked for the municipality and whose members were employed in the municipality were paid members even though they were in office, and compensation was paid to the mayor even though he was not even named as a team member. Fees for the work of commissions additionally burdened the municipalitys budget by more than three million dinars.
The direct and indirect budget users of the municipality incorrectly calculated and paid more than four million dinars. As for social benefits to employees, direct budget users paid 25 thousand dinars each to all elected and appointed persons at the end of last year, thus unnecessarily burdening the municipality budget by more than four million dinars .
The municipal administration paid for the purchase of office furniture of 800 thousand dinars without the public procurement procedure being conducted . Even in cases where proceedings were conducted, they were burdened with numerous irregularities that undermined the legitimacy of the procedure itself, the SAI found. In seven procurement procedures worth almost 16 million dinars, it was determined that the contract was signed and funds from the budget were not secured, that certain business capacities that were not logically related to the subject of procurement, that a required site visit was required, although not necessary ( maintaining hygiene) and that discriminatory conditions that restrict competition are required.
Another significant irregularity in public procurement is the planning of funds, that is, the initiation of procedures, which, as a rule, is the responsibility of the Mayor of the Municipal Administration. Nevertheless, these obligations were assumed by the Mayor, who also signed public procurement contracts. |
