Public procurement in ministries, municipalities and public companies for 2012 has endangered about 15 million Euros

Prishtina, 16 February – FOL Movement today published the report “Procurement Monitor 2012″, which shows the legal irregularities and violations of Ministries, Municipalities and Public Enterprises committed during the procurement procedures in different tenders. Further, in this report, FOL Movement presented an analysis of the problems and challenges encountered during the direct monitoring of procurement procedures in various contracting authorities and a comparative trend of violations of the above-mentioned institutions in 2011 and 2012.
Petrit Zogaj at this conference said that ” on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the state of Kosovo, Kosovo’s institutions have shown poor reliability in the rule of law, specifically regarding corruption and organized crime “. According to him “if the violations and corruption affairs in public procurement committed by institutions are considered , it is obvious that the statements and anti – corruption strategies already are neither serious nor useful “.

Seeing that this sector is the most corrupted, we asked the Assembly to establish an ad – hoc committee for parliamentary investigations in many ministries regarding the implementation of public procurement procedures and especially in the Ministry of Internal Affairs . According to Petrit Zogaj this is imperative considering that “only the biometric passports scandal , not only endangered the process of visa liberalization , but it also exposed clearly the institutional irresponsibility of the Government and various ministers .” Misuses and corruption in public procurement affairs not only must be addressed by government institutions , but they also should be paid attention by the institutions of the justice system by putting a priority sector for investigation and prosecution of corruption affairs in this sector .

Kenan Torah presented the findings of the report stating that “the ministries of the Republic of Kosovo in 2012 have committed numerous legal violations in total 27 different tenders.” Among them the ministries with most offenses is Ministry of Infrastructure committing violations in six tenders, and then the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports with violations in 5 tenders, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development in 4 tenders, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Kosovo Security Force in two tenders.
On the other hand ministries with violations in only one tender are Ministry of Communities and Returns, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Finances, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. From 27 tenders, thirteen (13) returned to re-tender, twelve (12) are back for re-evaluation, and two procurement activities are entirely canceled.

Public enterprises in 2012 did not develop procurement procedures in accordance with legal provisions in twenty (20) different tenders. Kosovo Energy Corporation has violated twelve (12) tenders, while Post and Telecom of Kosovo has committed violations in eight (8) different procurement activities. 4 of them returned to re-tender, 15 have are back for re-evaluation, and one procurement activity is canceled completely.

Municipalities in 2012 failed to comply with provisions in a total of 27 procurement activities. Twelve (12) returned to re-tender, 14 for re-evaluation and one tender is canceled. Municipality of Gjilan has committed the most violations in 4 tenders. Then the Municipality of Ferizaj, Gjakova and Peja in 3 tenders. Meanwhile, with violations in two tenders are Municipality of Prizren, Mitrovica and Kamenica. And with violations in only one tender are the Municipality of Prishtina, Shterpce, Shtimje, Lipjan, Suhareka, Vitia, Novoberda and Kllokot.
From about 74 tenders where are identified irregularities and legal violations, in only 64 of them is provided the monetary value of these tenders. The approximate amount of money which has been potentially endangered by the misuse during realization of these procurement procedures has been around 15 million Euros.