Within 5 years, only 43% of the recommendations given by the State Audit Office were fulfilled, the Auditor General of Georgia Irakli Mekvabishvili said.
Auditor General summed up the results of the five-year period of work of the State Audit Office (SAO) and noted that during this time the audit revealed more than 2,800 violations in state bodies and made appropriate recommendations. In his words, 43% of the recommendations have been fully fulfilled, 17% have been partially fulfilled, and 31% have ongoing status.
“The recommendation implementation rate is 43%, which is actually low. The problem with the recommendations issued by the audit office is mainly related to public finance, budget execution and procurement management. Obviously, these are issues that need more work. For this purpose, we have developed a program that will help the audit office, the government and parliament to monitor the fulfilment of recommendations in the electronic space, both at the level of the central office and municipalities. The successful implementation of this program will enhance the share of fulfilment of recommendations. There are recommendations that are being fulfilled, there are recommendations that cannot be fulfilled or are not being fulfilled, and there are also recommendations that need legislative initiatives," Mekvabishvili said.
Auditor General also noted that over the past year and a half, SAO has submitted up to 30 cases to the Prosecutor General's Office for investigation due to the presence of criminal law signs.
“Recently, we have conducted 270 audits. Last year we conducted 50 audits. As for the signs of a criminal offense, you know that we react immediately and submit materials to the prosecutor's office. Over the past 5 years, we have sent 130 specific cases to the investigating authority. Out of these, about 30 cases have been submitted in the last year and a half. Surely, we do have feedback. Criminal cases have been opened in almost all cases, investigation is ongoing,” said Auditor General Irakli Mekvabishvili.
In June of the current year, State Audit Office of Georgia received the highest assessment in the Supreme Audit Institutions Performance Measurement Framework (SAI-PMF).
According to the SAI-PMF indicators, the professional and organizational development of the office was assessed with the activities carried out within the strategic development of 2018-2021 and received a maximum of 3.4 points out of 4, which means that the institutional development of the State Audit Office equates to the level of EU countries.
