ZAGREB, April 11, 2020 – Auditors have found a deficit of close to HRK 630 million in the budget of the city of Zagreb, which is managed by Mayor Milan Bandić and his services, Večernji List daily reports on Saturday, noting that the fund for disaster relief was spent on various ceremonies.
The fund for disaster relief is used for outlays related to removing the consequences of natural disasters, epidemics, environmental accidents or extraordinary events and the city spent it on “activities of various associations, religious communities’ capital projects and various commemorative events,” the daily says.
This is how HRK 5.1 million of city budget reserves was spent, explains a recently published audit report on the city’s financial records.
The State Audit Office has said that the money should not have been used for the purposes for which it was used and called on the city administration to comply with the Budget Act.
This is only a small fragment of irregularities detected in the audit for 2018, the year at the end of which a deficit in the city budget of close to HRK 630 million was found, Vecernji List says.
The State Audit Office also says that the city’s debts at the end of 2018 amounted to HRK 1.9 billion.
Auditors consider as contentious the city’s public procurement procedures, how money from monument annuity is used, contracts on external services, the lack of funding for business events, the leasing of city-owned property without a tender and many other items, the daily says.
More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
