The collegium of the State Audit Institution (DRI) expresses a conditional opinion on the financial audit and a negative opinion on the audit of the regularity of the Draft Law on the final account of the budget of Montenegro for 2023, this institution announced.
This is the fifth consecutive year that the SAI has given a negative opinion on the audit of the regularity of the final state account, and where the observed irregularities have been repeated to a significant extent since 2019.
This negative opinion for regularity review was given for 2019 and 2020 when the Prime Minister was Dusko Markovic and the Minister of Finance Darko Radunović. The DRI gave a double negative opinion for the year 2021, when the prime minister was Zdravko Krivokapic and the Minister of Finance is the current Prime Minister Milojko Spajic. A negative opinion for the review of regularity was also given for 2022, when Krivokapić's government was in place until April, and since then the prime minister was Dritan Abazovic.
The same assessment has now been made for last year, which includes ten months of Abazović's government and two months of Spajić's government. The final account for the entire last year was prepared by the Ministry of Finance, which he headed Novica Vuković.
The audit for the year 2023 was carried out by the DRI collegium, which included dr Milan Dabović, member of the Senate and head of the Collegium, and Nikola N. Kovačević, chairman of the Senate of the Republic of Croatia, senator and member of the Collegium.
Due to the observed irregularities, SAI made 45 recommendations for their correction, as well as three systemic ones.
"DRI draws attention to the fact that the revision of the Draft Law on the final account of the budget of Montenegro for 2023 identified irregularities, which correct the budget result and the change in net cash. After the corrections have been made, the cash deficit amounts to ¤2.616.036,21 (in the Bill on the final budget account for 2023, a cash surplus in the amount of ¤11.187.308,03 was stated), the modified cash deficit is ¤4.864.762,93 (in the of the law showed a modified surplus in the amount of 8.938.581,31 ¤), net change in cash deposits 36.819.209,15 ¤ (amount 33.719.266,15 ¤ in the Draft Law), while the cash balance as of 31.12.2023. year is 83.139.530,03 ¤ (amount 80.039.587,03 ¤ in the Draft Law). The audit established that 16 million euros were not recorded in the Treasury's General Ledger, which, in addition to other irregularities, had a decisive impact on the change in the budget result. Bearing in mind that the budget result changes after the corrections have been made, the SAI recommends that the Government consider the possibility of preparing amendments to the Bill on the final account of the budget of Montenegro for the year 2023", the SAI report stated.
During the review of regularity, the competent Board, as stated, expressed a negative opinion due to the fact that the Tax Administration did not prepare the Final Tax Invoice for the year 2023 by March 31, and it could not be processed for the second year in a row, as well as due to violations of other legal provisions, which regulate the functioning of the fiscal system and have imperative application.
"The Ministry of Finance did not provide a record of obligations in the Treasury General Ledger in accordance with the Rulebook on the unified classification of accounts for the budget of Montenegro and municipal budgets, but only a record of the state of obligations at the end of the year based on the submitted reports of spending units. The audit of the Report on outstanding obligations found that the following consumer units contracted obligations in excess of the planned and approved funds: the Institute for Education, the Directorate for Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs, and the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund. In the audit process, it was not possible to determine in what amount and for what purpose the funds, which refer to the direct donation of the European Commission in the amount of 30.500.000 euros, were spent," the SAI report stated.
The audit also established that contracts for consulting services (Capital Projects Administration) and work contracts (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Administration for Inspection Affairs and Administration for cadastre and state property).
"Exceeding the allowed spending of budget reserve funds for financing the regular activities of the spending unit was determined by five units: the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Ministry of Capital Investments. The competent ministry and the Administration for State Property have not put into operation the software for keeping single records and the real estate register. The Administration for State Property did not evaluate the listed immovable properties in state property," it was stated by the SAI.
In order to improve the fiscal system, the competent Collegium gave the Parliament and the Government three systemic recommendations: that legal entities that are part of the system of financing based on public revenues (JP Morsko dobro, Fund for Environmental Protection, Veterinary Chamber and clinics) should be financed through the system budget; that the Parliament of Montenegro, in order to harmonize with the Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility, consider the possibility of amending the norm of the annual budget law, which refers to the consolidation of own revenues of public institutions, so that all unconsolidated receipts and expenditures of all public institutions that are financed from the budget and that the Government, when passing the decree on organizational changes of consumer units, also determines the competences related to the preparation of annual financial reports.
SAI also states that in 2023, 30 percent of its recommendations on irregularities identified in the final account for 2022 were fulfilled, eight percent were partially implemented, 56% were not implemented, 4% of recommendations were not applicable, while the status of 2% of recommendations was not determined.
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