19.05.2010. -

The municipality of Ropaži Region has violated the requirements of the law by permitting unreasonable expenditure of state and municipal resources amounting to LVL 321,063 (excluding VAT) and violated the principle of good governance when renting and alienating properties, the State Audit Office has disclosed in the audit.

The principle of equality and impartiality towards all candidates has not been observed in the procurements organised by the municipality and the transparency of procurement procedures has been insufficient.

In six cases of procurement, the Procurement Commission of the municipality has not complied with the requirement of the law to post notifications on the internet home page. The sole candidate having applied has been declared the winner in several tenders. Furthermore, in one case the contract was concluded before selecting the winning entry, which points to a possible prior arrangement.

In two cases the municipality has increased the contractual price of the procurement for additional works by LVL 95,999 (excluding VAT) without approval of the Procurement Control Bureau, thus ignoring the procedure prescribed by the law.

The municipality has used LVL 256,495 (excluding VAT) unlawfully through unlawful construction as it had failed to prepare the technical projects in six procurements, without which it is impossible to prepare economically reasonable construction cost estimates.

The municipality has used LVL 64,568 (excluding VAT) without substantiation using the funds for additional works in two procurements, which cannot be proved with paperwork.

The SAO has also disclosed that the municipality has mismanaged financial resources by not collecting contractual penalties amounting to at least LVL 18,885 (excluding VAT) for delayed construction works.

The SAO has discovered questionable behaviour by the municipality in implementation of land reform. 13 land plots (11.425 ha) have been listed as free state lands only eight days before the final date of submission of land requests stipulated by the law. Furthermore, the inheritors of the lands are not notified of the opportunity to the priority of receiving a land plot equal to the inherited estate, although respective land plots have been listed as free state lands and granted to other persons as the sole candidates.

In 52 cases the decision on granting the land into permanent use was taken sooner than in one month following the first request, as stipulated by the law. In one case the Development Committee has issued its resolution even before the request.

The legality audit “Lawfulness of municipal functions in handling of property and financial resources in the municipality of Ropaži Region” was condacted on the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 May 2009.