Expert-Grup

Major Irregularities in Agricultural Subsidies and Energy Efficiency Fund Management Found by the Court of Accounts

Friday, 20 February 20155773 views
Major Irregularities in Agricultural Subsidies and Energy Efficiency Fund Management Found by the Court of Accounts

Automatically translated summary. The full article is available in Romanian.

On 20 February 2014 in Chișinău, Expert-Grup, supported by the Soros Foundation Moldova, launched the study “How Public Money Is Lost” for the fourth quarter of 2014. It monitors the implementation of Court of Accounts reports following its 2013 audits of the agricultural producers subsidy fund and the Energy Efficiency Fund.

The Court of Accounts found that subsidy allocation is discriminatory, owing to the allocation formula, vaguely worded support measures and non-compliance with the regulation. Irregular spending totalled at least MDL 50 million, although losses did not exceed MDL 1.7 million in 2013, and at least MDL 150 million of payments are questionable. Only 0.3% of landowners receive subsidies, and over 111 applications were registered late.

The Energy Efficiency Fund faces problems of access, institutions and competence, and is inconsistent with national energy policies. It has very few beneficiaries because local information is lacking, although over MDL 144 million is offered annually for projects. Local capacity is weak, and delayed central funding and institutional reforms add to the problem.

View the original article in Romanian