Watchdog says it’s been a good – but not great – year

THE AUDITOR-general yesterday said her report for 2003 was improved compared to other years.

Speaking after submitting her report to President Tassos Papadopoulos, Chrystalla Georkadji said the improvement was due to the fact that people recognised that through her service’s suggestions and the adoption of better practices they improved the efficiency of their service.
Despite this, the Nicosia and Limassol municipalities continued to display considerable mismanagement of their financial affairs.

According to the report, at the end of 2002, the state was being deprived of around £11 million in income from outstanding property seizures in relation with dues to the social insurance fund, income tax, and court fines, because the police had difficulties in executing around 5,086 warrants.

The auditor-general also noticed serious irregularities during the tender procedures for the procurement of thermal scopes for the police patrol boats.

An internal investigation into the matter was subsequently shelved rather than passed on to the attorney-general, despite the severity of its findings, the report said.

The auditor also found serious weaknesses and omissions in the tender procedures concerning the police, which resulted in the declaration and cancellation of a number of tenders and delays in the procurement of the equipment.

The auditor-general pointed out that many departments and services still lacked the proper mechanisms for internal auditing and stressed that responsibility for putting such systems in place lay with the heads of the departments.

Georkadji said the co-ordination between the various state departments was insufficient, which resulted in delays in the completion of various projects that at the end of the day translated into an increase of costs.

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