Romanian Court Of Accounts Finds Breaches At Bucharest City Hall

After the inspection conducted in Bucharest City Hall between February 15 and April 15, the Court of Accounts decided to notify the Bucharest Court to establish culpability and parties obligated to recover the payments seen as missing from the city’s budget, according to a press release issued Friday by city hall.

"The general mayor is accused of having signed the purchase contract for a piece of property in the Mihailesti commune, to be used by the Animal Watch Administration, and also of the fact that, as main credit coordinator he did not follow-up on the calculation and redirection of the contributions to social security connected to the salaries of general councilors," said the document.

The court states the acquisition of a property spanning over a total 10,001 square meters – which also has buildings on it, the administration building, a paddock, annexes, a warehouse, an entrance cabin and an utilities gate – was performed without observance for the provisions of Bucharest General Council Decision 295/2006, which resulted in a price unjustifiably different from the one included in the bulletin issued by the Technical Experts Body (CETR), namely 4,478,328.45 lei (EUR1 = RON3.6645).

The mayoralty states that the completion of the Court of Accounts’ report does not represent "a sentence against Bucharest City Hall." City authorities feel there have not been any payments performed in an unjustifiable or illegal manner, "like the inspection team within the Court of Accounts claims," and their objections will also be presented to civil courts, the only ones with jurisdiction to set civil liability for city hall and its employees.

The city’s objection is based on the fact that the Court of Accounts "disregarded" the two technical expertise bulletins filed and compared the value stated by CETR "strictly for the land," with the entire purchase value for the compound in Mihailesti.

The city adds that, aside from the free terrain, authorities also purchased constructions spanning over 1,815 square meters, which thus became "property of the city of Bucharest," and whose value was entirely overlooked by the authors of the inspection report.

In the same report, the Court of Accounts sees as "unjustified or illegal" payments worth RON32,755,563 for road works, and urges city hall to recover the mentioned sums and redirect them to the local budget account.

Authorities state, regarding the used budget resources, that they reflect the situations of performed works, which contradicts the observation of the inspection body.

City authorities claim that, without the violation of the law and the occurrence of “actual” losses, liability cannot be held against the members of the commission evaluating the road work offers.

The Court of Accounts also states that city hall, between January and August 2007, did not redirect to the states social security budget the sum RON101,609 and delay penalties, because it did not calculate and redirect the social security contribution connected to the salaries of city councilors.

Authorities said the contribution was paid as soon as Order 680 of the labor minister, on August 1, 2007, came into effect.

Thus, prior to the enactment of the above mentioned order there were no similar legal provisions, and the mentioned contribution was not an obligation.

Lastly, the Court of Accounts noticed the delayed redirection to the state budget of the sums due for not having employed handicapped people in city hall, in accordance with the provisions of law 488/2006. This brought losses of RON945.

City authorities did not object to this point.