/ world today news/ The National Assembly has spent heavily on the purchase of protocol gifts, which are generally given to foreign leaders at high-level meetings in our country and abroad.
This is the finding in the audit report of the Audit Board on the financial management of the parliament in the period between 2012 and mid-2013, when Tsetska Tsacheva was again at the head of the institution. “As a result of ineffective preliminary control, the purchase of gift items with a value exceeding that specified in the internal rules of the National Assembly and which are not related to welcoming guests from abroad or holding public events was allowed,” the national auditors found. In principle, the ceiling for individual gifts is up to half of the minimum wage, which in this period averaged BGN 290. However, during the inspection, it was found that items were bought for much higher amounts – from BGN 400 to BGN 1,300. In addition, “it was allowed in part of the invoices not to indicate the name of the purchased goods, which does not comply with the principle of transparency”, the Audit Chamber also notes. One of the most frequent gifts that Tsacheva gave in her first term was a miniature copy of the parliamentary bell, which cost BGN 500. In total, for the audited period, the funds spent on such items amounted to BGN 198,294.
“Effective control over the costs of landline telephones has not been carried out,” is the report’s other criticism of the parliamentary leadership.
Apart from these omissions, however, in general, the administration of the National Assembly had proper accounting. The travel documents for the use of the parliamentary limousines were kept under wraps, and no violations were found in the repairs and management of the buildings of the National Assembly. / Monitor
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