What do the findings of the chartered accountants mention for George Patoulis’ term
Series of irregularities and blatant cases of mismanagement of finances both Attica as well as the special gradual association (ESDNA) during the period 2020 – 2023, (under administration George Patoulis) Record the two findings of the management audit carried out by the House of Certified Accountants and were deposited days ago at the Office of the Financial Prosecutor by the current Attica Regional Governor, Nikos Chardalia.
At the heart of the investigations of the financial prosecutor there are 13 project contracts of EUR 299 million, where there was only a valid final offer and 297 direct assignments of a total budget of € 15.9 million.
According to reports in the findings, there are several cases of competitions in which he participated … just a candidate. “The majority of the projects found that only one body was involved in the process, which was ultimately selected, with a petty or even zero discount offer in relation to the original budget of the project,” says one of the findings.
In other cases, although there were more participants, their bids were rejected “for formal reasons”, leaving the field free to specific contractors. It also causes the fact that for many of the projects implemented in the four -year period, their budget was determined without sufficient documentation. Indeed, the final cost of the projects was swelled through successive additional contracts, dramatically raising the total amount of expenditure.
According to RES EIA information, from the prosecution and justice circles, there are 13 project contracts with a total budget of 299,222,416 euros (+ VAT). In these, although bids are co-ordinated by various companies for each project, eventually only one valid emerges, leading to 1%-3%discounts. Thus, there is a cumulative discount of only € 6.5 million (2.17%) in the 13 competitions.
In particular:
– There were four bids of companies in a project of EUR 18,448 million. The three were canceled as the first company did not submit the necessary letter of guarantee, the second did not attribute any supporting documents, the third did not send an electronic confirmation of the guarantee and left just one that covered all the conditions when it was given the project.
– In a competition for another project of € 24,697 million, three companies participated with the two not meeting the required conditions and the third taking the job.
– Similarly for a project of € 44 million, two companies’ offers were considered invalid and only one was left, which was finally emerged.
– In another project, with a budget of EUR 8,883,360, three bids were re -submitted and again the two were canceled due to a lack of guarantee and non -submission of supporting documents respectively.
In a fifth competition, for a project of 9,295,238 euros, three companies were submitted but only one eventually participated as valid.
It is noteworthy that according to the findings, there is a company consistently involved in a 1% discount on many competitions and is always rejected because in the end it does not submit a letter of guarantee. At the same time the following are noted:
• Project budgets are determined without sufficient documentation, and in cases where it is reported that there has been a market research, there are no documents to prove it.
• Many of the costs related to direct assignment contracts are not included in the original budget, but are subsequently added through amendments.
• The invocation of an urgent need as a reason for the choice of the direct assignment process is not sufficiently substantiated in several cases.
• Studies accompanying the procurement and services contracts show deficiencies, as they do not provide detailed data on the quantitative characteristics of the work on assignment.
• There are no clearly defined criteria for selecting the financial operators invited to offer, resulting in many cases limited to a single candidate.
• Repeated assignment of projects to specific contractors is found, raising questions about transparency and competition.
• In almost all projects under consideration, declarations include an option for the contractor, with the possibility of increasing the original contractual amount by 50% to 100%.
• In many cases, projects were executed through successive contracts, where although they concerned the same object, their costs showed significant increases, without providing clear and documented justification for financial differences.
According to RES sources, many studies have been identified with dubious surrender and overpriced, which will be under the microscope of the prosecutors, as 297 direct assignments were found, totaling 15.9m euros.
In fact, there was a company that received eight contracts for disinfection, mockery and viscosity, with the cost of reaching 3.7 million euros, while another two secured four more contracts for the same item, worth € 1.86 million. Amounts too high compared to corresponding contracts of other bodies.
Both program contracts, of the Region-to address the consequences of COVID-19-with the Athens Medical Association, who was chaired by the then regional governor G. Patoulis, are also questionable. In conventions from the Region to the ISA, without the necessary reports, which makes all the deliverables to be questioned. In addition, a typical example of mismanagement is the supply of 200,000 masks by a company based in Cyprus, instead of 160,000 euros, with auditors finding that the company was active in the wholesale of pallets.
As far as EDSNA is concerned, in the period 2009 – 2023 a specific law firm has received 891 remuneration documents totaling EUR 3,223 million.
This legal office refers to first -degree affinity with a former SYRIZA MP. The 448 of them relate to the 2019-23 period, with total remuneration, amounting to EUR 1,236,147.
The direct assignments of EDSNA in the period 2020-2023 on the amount of expenditure and the subject of the contracts are also impressed.
– A typical example is the project for the supply of oxidants for decontamination, deregulation and protection of the dump of the breed from the crown. The initial contract amounted to EUR 5 million, while an additional EUR 673,000 were added through an option. However, the company that undertook the project was maintained by the trafficking of hygiene.
– Equally noteworthy is the direct assignment of € 231,000 to a particular company to create virtual browsing models through 3D technology to the dump’s facilities.
The finding also raises questions about the management of EDSNA finances. The Association’s annual revenue exceeds EUR 90 million, with 50% intended for grants to municipalities affected by the operation of the landfill and the rest for projects, operating expenses and inelastic expenditure, such as salaries. However, during the four-year period 2020-2023, EDSNA made 395m euros in assignments, which exceeds its revenue, leading to debts, losses and interest claims for default interest.
It is noted that the Regional Governor Nikos Chardalias during the deposition of the findings to the financial prosecutor did not comment on the matter. He reiterated that “transparency is a matter of dignity and responsibility”, and that “the pursuit through the controls is to come” all to light “. In this context, in the middle of the week, he informed about the findings, the heads of the Regional Council factions, seeking their support so that no “shadow” remains.
