Audit Reveals Flaws in Gori Municipality Spending
The State Audit Office (SAO) of Georgia has released a report which reads that Gori Municipality failed to properly use a Polish grant of €68,354 in due time, after which it had to pay it back and as a result of the conversion of the money into EURO, it lost more than GEL 10,000 (€3,050).
The Audit Office writes that according to the agreement signed between the Gori Municipality and the Polish side on July 31, 2017, the Polish party allocated a €8,354 grant within the agreement of which Gori undertook the responsibility to carry out the rehabilitation and equipping of a building for the disabled in the nearby Tiniskhidi village.
November 30, 2017 was defined as the deadline for project completion, however, the municipality failed to meet said deadline. The municipality governor signed the agreement on July 31, 2017, despite not having the prior approval of the council at the time nor the government's permission to receive the grant, so violating Georgian legislation. Implementation of these procedures started late, after the grant was transferred to the municipality account.
Municipality representatives took a business trip to Poland from April 28 to May 7, 2017, where the preliminary agreement on mutual cooperation and grant allocation was made. The SAO says that the municipality should have timely initiated appropriate legal procedures, in which case it would have been possible to obtain prior approval from the City Council and the government before the grant agreement was signed.
Due to delays in the procedures, the government's permission was granted on September 13, 2017. After receiving the permit, the deposited money was converted into GEL, which amounted to GEL 200,149. To use the grant, a corresponding change was made to the municipal budget on September 21 and a tender was announced on November 3. The report says that prior to the tender announcement, the municipality failed to provide relevant project cost estimates.
The reorganization process of the Gori district administration coincided with the period of tender procedures of the project and finally, according to the protocol of December 26, 2017, the tender procedures were terminated and the municipality as such was unable to fulfill its undertaken obligations.
Following these developments, the Gori Municipality requested the Polish side prolong project dates; however, the latter refused and demanded the issued grant back. As a result of the conversion of the money back into the Euros, the budget saw a 10,000 GEL loss.
In addition to this, according to the State Audit Office, in 2018, the Gori municipality was advised to reduce its car fleet to 10 units, yet city authorities had 36 automobiles. The agency notes that in May, 2019, after the SAO sent the results of the primary report, the municipality reduced the number of cars to be in line with the recommended amount.
The audit report also includes the business expenses of the municipal employees and their purpose. SAO says that in 2017-2018, the municipality spent GEL 73.3 ($24.64) thousand on business travel, including GEL 53.7 ($18.05) thousand in 2017 and GEL 19.6 ($6.59) thousand in 2018. During the mentioned years, 42 people had 35 trips abroad.
The Audit Service writes that it is unclear for what purpose the trips were made and what kind of benefits they brought to Gori Municipality.
By Tea Mariamidze
Image source: Imedinews.ge