site.btaBulgarian National Audit Office, European Commission Discuss Corruption Risks in Public Finance

The Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) said on Tuesday it held a discussion with representatives of the European Commission via video conference to prepare the Rule of Law Report.

The discussion focused on the corruption risks in managing public funds in Bulgaria and the measures BNAO is taking to counteract them.

BNAO officials Ekaterina Percheva, director of the Specific Audits Directorate, and Toma Donchev, director of the Audit Activity Development Directorate, attended the conference initiated by the European Commission. Percheva and Donchev answered questions about irregularities related to corruption practices found during audits, the number of reports sent to the prosecution service, and the methods used to monitor the financing of political parties’ election campaigns.

The Performance Audits Directorate provided information answered a question on the results of audits carried out in 2024 that uncovered irregularities linked to corruption and integrity.

The team is auditing several organizations, monitoring progress in implementing measures set out in the National Strategy for Preventing and Combatting Corruption in the Republic of Bulgaria (2021-2027). The audit on Measures for Preventing and Combatting Corruption and the Illicit Use of European Funds for the period from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2023, has been completed. Quality control is pending, and the draft report will be sent to the audited entities. As the final audit report has not yet been adopted by BNAO, preliminary findings, conclusions, and recommendations could not be presented.

BNAO experts clarified that in 2024, the audit institution sent parts of seven audit reports to the Prosecution Service. The Prosecution Service stopped investigations on fourteen of those reports, while investigations on the other ten reports remain ongoing.

Percheva answered the European Commission’s questions regarding controls on the financing of political parties and election campaigns.

Despite frequent elections, BNAO performs its duties and exercises its powers as outlined in the Election Code promptly and efficiently. Six audit tasks concerning the financing of political parties and election campaigns were assigned in 2024, with one still in progress. Once election participants submit their reports, they are reviewed and published on BNAO’s website. Audits have been carried out on participants who declared income and expenses over BGN 1,000 in their election campaigns.

Percheva commented on the financing of election campaigns in the last parliamentary elections, for which audit results from April 2023 are available. Among the violations are failing to submit or meet the deadline for mandatory donation data, the absence or delayed submission of declarations on the origin of donated amounts exceeding one minimum wage, and failure to comply with the requirement that income and expenses over BGN 1,000 be carried out by bank transfer. For Election Code violations in 2024, 59 administrative violation acts were issued and fines totalling BGN 51,000 were imposed.

In response to a question from the European Commission regarding the sectors at highest risk of corruption, Donchev summarized the views of BNAO’s audit directorates: public procurement, management and disposal of state and municipal property, absorption and expenditure of funds from EU-financed programmes, and the awarding of state and municipal concessions. In 2024, BNAO reviewed procedures and awards carried out under the Public Procurement Act, amounting to BGN 139.9 million. A total of 153 administrative violation acts were issued, with fines exceeding BGN 312,000.

The most common Public Procurement Act violations that triggered administrative penalty proceedings include setting conditions that unjustifiably restrict or provide an unfair advantage in public procurement procedures, evaluation methodologies that do not enable an objective comparison of participants’ proposals and splitting public procurements into parts to apply a lower-value awarding procedure.

Weaknesses in managing state and municipal property and concessions include insufficient or ineffective control over committees (tender and others) during contract signing and throughout implementation, incomplete tender procedure documentation, leasing properties without auctions, a failure by municipal administrations to collect unpaid concession obligations, and a lack of information on the implementation of investment programmes.