Irregularities concern payments made in 2010 for projects financed with European money.
The Court of Accounts’ audit authority checked the non-reimbursable funds Romania received from the budget of the European Union. The authority checked over 900 EU-funded projects and investigations targeted over 200 public and private entities.
Checkups reveled that 93.9% of the non-reimbursable EU funds allotted to Romania was contracted in the 2007-2010 interval, and payments to beneficiaries from the sum allotted by the European Commission (pre-financing and reimbursements) stood at 19.1%.
Concerning the regional operational program, which is financed from the European Regional Development Fund, the audit authority noted irregularities regarding public procurement transparency, conflict of interests and restrictive selection criteria.
The financial corrections made by the authority stand at EUR5.1 million, reads the Court of Accounts’ 2011 report.
Of the EUR4.4 billion allotted from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), EUR2.69 billion was contracted by December 31, 2010, and payments stood at EUR1.78 billion, according to the Court of Accounts.
Investigations that targeted projects financed from the EAFRD revealed management and control irregularities, financial irregularities concerning payments, as well as breaches of expenditure eligibility criteria.
Financial irregularities have also been noted in the case of projects financed from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF). They concern payments of EUR131,000 made to beneficiaries that submitted illegal paperwork.