State Audit Office of Georgia finds violations in the Corrections Ministry
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Thursday, October 8
The State Audit Office of Georgia released a statement regarding violations discovered in the Corrections Ministry.
According to the Audit Office, during the investigation they discovered violations which they have forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.
“The investigation yielded evidence of possible breaches of the law. We have already sent the corresponding materials to the Prosecutor’s office for further investigation,” reads the statement.
According to the report, the materials refer to the issuing of bonuses in 2013-2014 as well as information on tenders held in relation to purchasing food services.
As the report reads, during a tender in 2013, there were four participating companies. One of them, Tela 2012, offered lower prices than GMM, but did not have certain documents in order and was asked for clarification. Tela 2012 failed to produce the required documents in time and was disqualified, leaving GMM as the winner again with a proposal that cost 211.100 GELs more.
The Audit Office also noted violations regarding money awards which were given in the same period of time.
According to the report, there is no justification for paying out financial awards to employees.
“The largest awards of 20, 000 GEL were awarded to some individuals in December 2013. In some cases, awards were given to the same person twice or even four times, and in most cases the reasons for awarding such large bonuses were unstated,” reads the report.
The Ministry of Corrections responded to the report. According to their statement, any company was allowed to participate in tenders announced during the past two years.
“Due to a lack of time, there were extreme conditions and the tender commission made a decision to avoid a failure in the organizing of food supplies for the inmates,” reads the statement released by the Ministry of Corrections.
The statement also reads that the Audit Office welcomes any further investigation.
