Today, March 15, the team of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) participated in a meeting initiated by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Transparency International Moldova. The meeting focused on the presentation and discussion of the draft study of the National Integrity System Moldova 2020.
The meeting was attended by Marian Lupu, President of the CoARM, the Members of the Court of Accounts: Petru Rotaru, Andrei Munteanu, Marina Covali, as well as Ecaterina Paknehad, Head of the CoA’s Staff. Transparency International Moldova was represented by Lilia Carascuc - Executive Director and Mariana Kalugin - expert.
The meeting was also attended by Igor Munteanu, Chairman of the Public Finance Control Committee (PFCC), as well as Radu Marian, Member of the PFCC. The Embassy of the United States of America, an institution that provides support to Transparency International Moldova in developing the study, participated in the person of Kevin Lanigan, legal counsel.
At the beginning of the discussions, Mr Lanigan noted the efforts of the US Embassy in Moldova to improve the situation in the areas of anti-corruption and integrity. "The Court of Accounts is one of the important pillars of the national integrity system and we are interested in continuing the dialogue on supporting the institution in strengthening and institutional development," said Kevin Lanigan.
Lilia Carasciuc made a retrospective of the collaboration of Transparency International Moldova and the Court of Accounts over the years, on various aspects. Mariana Kalugin informed about the main findings of the project of the study National Integrity System Moldova 2020, the pillar of the Court of Accounts.
Marian Lupu mentioned during the discussions that the Court of Accounts has always shown openness and transparency in the relations with stakeholders and the whole society. The President of the CoA came with some clarifications on the draft study, referring to the competition procedure for public dignity positions within the CoA, the cooperation and joint efforts of the CoA and the PFCC to increase the impact of audit reports and support in Parliament in the exercise of the function of parliamentary oversight. The President of the CoA also discussed issues of cooperation with law enforcement bodies in the context of detecting suspicions of fraud and corruption during audit missions and ways to streamline cooperation.
Igor Munteanu, the Chairman of the PFCC remarked, during the discussions, about the importance of aligning the Court of Accounts to the standards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI, which impresses increased credibility and professionalism to the CoA’s reports. Mr. Munteanu spoke about the systemic problems, detected and stated repeatedly by the supreme audit institution, mentioning the need to educate the audited entities, hold their managers accountable, and increase the general culture of public institution employees in addressing audit recommendations.
Andrei Munteanu, Member of the CoARM, spoke, in context, about the legislative initiatives to modify the national legal framework in order to increase the impact of the audit activity and to improve the responsibility of the public entities, elaborated with the support of the Court of Accounts. Not all proposals were found in the law, which went through two readings in Parliament, which limits the impact of the initiatives.
At the end of the discussions, the participants agreed to continue the cooperation at the technical level, in order to improve the study design and boost the cooperation.