National Audition Office ( The ZKA has found that the Pristina municipality has spent 2m 180m and 417 euros on funds of a 5m-euro European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( BELZH), for projects not included in the funding agreement.
According to the January 2024 – April 2026 Accounting Report of Accountability, the municipality had carried out 21 payments contrary to the purpose of the loan, which was received for investments in energy efficiency in 47 public objects, including schools, gardens and family medical centres, writes Insander.
Instead of these investments, part of the money was used for six other projects.
According to the report, 700 thousand and 374 euros have been spent on construction, expansion and modernisation of the public lighting network, while 441 thousand and 25 euros for theification of old buildings in the capital.
Also, 827 thousand of the 911 euros have been paid for contracts registered as energy efficiency projects, but that, according to the audit, actually concerned the presentation of old buildings that were not part of the list of pre-conception objects in the agreement.
The rest includes 124 thousand and 269 euros for co-finance of a project with the Kosovo Energy Efficiency Fund, 48 thousand and 89 euros for the construction of security fences in communications and 38 thousand and 748 euros for collection, transport and waste storage services.
ZKA has found that some of these projects were before they were financed by the municipality’s own revenues, while others were not included either in the Law on Business Divisions or in the medium term spending period.
The report said that for the initiative of procurement procedures for these projects, the municipality had used the release of funding from the budget of the project financed through borrowing.
Another finding relates to the way the payments are made. Under the accord with the EBRD, the payments had to be made directly from bank to contractors, but the municipality had realised them through the Treasury’s Only Account.
The audit also noted that the Project Implementation Unit was not founded through a formal decision by the municipality, but was functioning on the basis of electronic communications among officials. Even the staff’s commitment to project tasks was not transmitted with documents defining their roles and responsibilities.
Moreover, the Komuna reports to the Ministry of Finance had not indicated that credit funds were being used for other projects. ZKA has also found disagreement in reported data from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury departments.
For these findings, the ZKA has recommended that the head of the Pristina municipality cease using borrowing funds for other purposes, identify and document fully the amount spent and take action to return the full means used outside the destination.
Also recommended is the identification of the responsibilities of officials involved, the establishment of the Project Enforcement Unit and the establishment of internal controls to prevent the repetition of such cases.
The Ministry of Finance has been recommended to make the legal and financial assessment of the use of funds outside the destination, to examine the consequences for the state as borrowers and guarantors, as well as to strengthen the mechanisms for monitoring loans and state guarantees.
In response included in the report, the Pristina municipality has disagreed with auditing findings concerning the establishment of the Project Enforcement Unit and responsibility of the Finance Ministry for access and control of funds.
The municipality has claimed that the entity was functional according to the practices and requirements of the EBRD, that its composition and operation had gone through the process of review and consent by the bank, as well as that the project was monitored by an international consulting company with headquarters in Sarajevo.
It has also called for further consideration of the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, arguing that controls through the Treasury and Public Finance Management System should prevent payments from reaching.
Meanwhile, regarding the return of the vehicles, the municipality has said it has been addressed to the Ministry of Finance for confirmation and documentation of the pledge, but had not received answers. For this reason, according to her, she had prosecuted in the Municipal Assembly with a request for approval of the obligation to cover her own revenues, respectively, from the reserve code.
ZKA, however, has kept its findings in force, praising that they stay. /Insander.org/
Source Layer: Insander