Introducing a report on the work of the State Audit Office in 2009 in parliament on Wednesday, Chief State Auditor Sima Krasic said the office was making visible progress because the number of negative opinions on audited entities was decreasing by the year. The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) requested that state-owned companies be audited every year to prevent irregularities in public procurement.
Krasic said that a total of HRK 175 billion was audited in 855 audits last year, and that her office gave 107 unconditional, 434 conditional and five negative opinions.
As for public procurement, a total of HRK 35.5 billion was audited and the most frequent irregularities referred to planning, record-keeping, and delivery of information. There were also cases of public procurement without relevant tenders.
SDP deputy Dragica Zgrebec warned that despite the evident progress, there were still cases of state-owned companies making direct deals in public procurement and bypassing tenders, as evidenced by information that most of the audited entities received conditional opinions.
The SDP parliamentary caucus asked that state-owned companies be audited every year, that audit reports be forwarded to relevant state institutions which would establish possible irregularities, and that the Office of the Chief State Attorney be informed about possible irregularities.
The SDP's request was seconded by Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), who said that the smallest of municipalities were audited every year, but not so big companies employing several thousand workers.
All parliamentary caucuses pointed to the fact that companies were having problem collecting their claims, that property records were not being kept regularly, that records of debts were not adjusted, that spending limits were being exceeded, and that some companies lacked an integral system of internal audit or were not implementing it at all.
