"Fraud and conflict of interest", the government admits the abuse of IPARD; Tender 377 thousand euros to "investigate" yourself!

2024-10-24 14:49:31Investigim SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Albanian Government/ IPARD II

The Albanian government has accepted for the first time the abuse of EU funds for agriculture, through the IPARD II program.

In a document released by the Ministry of Finance, it is stated that the funds were given with " fraud and conflict of interest ".

In fact, these are not administrative violations, but genuine criminal offenses, which must be investigated by law enforcement bodies.

But what is the government doing?!

VoxNews has learned that the Ministry of Finance has opened a tender to "investigate" itself, or rather the Rural Agricultural Development Agency, an agency directly dependent on the government.

This agency had tens of millions of euros in hand, which went to businessmen and politicians, with the rationale that they would develop agriculture. Beneficiaries have also been from the world of crime, which led the EU to stop the further continuation of the program, freezing tens of millions more euros that would go to Albanian agriculture.

"Fraud and conflict of interest", the government admits the abuse of
Facsimile: Announcement of the tender opened by the Ministry of Finance to audit EU funds through IPARD II

A few days ago, the Ministry of Finance opened the tender with the object "external audit (forensic audit) to assess the implementation of the IPARD II Program (2014-2020) in Albania".

"Fraud and conflict of interest", the government admits the abuse of

It is about "investigating" one of the biggest abuses that happened in Albania, where the EU funds went with fraud and conflict of interest to some individuals connected to the government.

The limit fund of this tender is 37,227,990 ALL or 377,221 euros.

It is learned that the duration of the contract is 165 days from the date of signing the contract. "A draft is requested within 15 calendar days from the signing of the contract.

Comments from the contracting authority within 10 calendar days. The report with the findings and the opinion is requested," these documents state.

According to them, the draft should be submitted to the Deputy Minister of Finance.

"Fraud and conflict of interest", the government admits the abuse of
Facsimile: The accompanying documents state that the final draft should be sent to the Deputy Minister of Finance

"The reports will be drawn up in Albanian and English and must be submitted in 4 copies (printed copies) and one copy in the electronic version (MS Word Format). It is important that the audit team maintains close contact and cooperation with the ZKA. ZKA must be informed about the progress of the audit. The contractor must prepare a draft report, with clear and concise results, and a Final Report. Reports must be submitted to the National Authorizing Officer. All documents should be addressed to ZKA, Ms. ADELA XHEMALI, Deputy Minister of Finance" are stated in these documents.

Yes, if there are violations, which are accepted even by the government, why should they be submitted to this official and not a law enforcement body?

The EU report spoke quite clearly that dozens of files had genuine violations. What are auditors expected to discover?

The government does not trust the EU?

"Fraud and conflict of interest", the government admits the abuse of
Facsimile: The document issued by the Ministry of Finance states that 94.3 million euros were given through fraud and conflict of interest

In the documents published by the Ministry of Finance, provided by VoxNews , it is stated that Albania was accredited by the European Commission for the implementation of the IPARD II Program with the signing of the Financing Agreement in May 2018, with a budget of 94.3 million Euros, of which of which 71 million Euros was the EU contribution and 23.3 million Euros was the national contribution.

"During the implementation of the IPARD II Program, in February 2021, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) conducted an investigation in the IPARD Agency, receiving 54 files from calls 1 and 2. In July 2023, the European Commission (DG AGRI) notified the Albanian authorities that due to the preliminary information received by OLAF, the Commission will temporarily suspend the reimbursement of payments to Albania until corrective measures are taken. In the report, several findings with serious irregularities, fraud, conflict of interest in some projects financed by the IPARD II Program, as well as the failure of the AZHBR to identify signals of irregularities and prevent them, have been identified," this document states. So it speaks quite clearly about fraud and conflict of interest, and even non-reaction of the institutions.

" For this purpose, in cases where irregularities or fraud have been identified during the implementation of the program, ZKA may request an evaluation of the implementation of the procedures by the responsible structures through an independent external audit according to international auditing standards ," the documents state.

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