OREANDA-NEWS. August 07, 2012. The Chamber of Auditors (CCRM) considered a report on infringements discovered in the process of amassing and spending of money by the Chisinau local authorities.

An audit report of 130 pages shows, inter alia, that the Moldovan capital's local authorities underestimated the taxable basis of the municipality, which led to failure to get incomes worth over 61 million lei in 2010-2011. "Another 30 per cent of taxes can still be got from Chisinau, even one more budget. Unlike other settlements, the capital is a gold mine, a CCRM member, Valeriu Chitan, has said.

A public auditor, Sergiu Stirbu, said the non-assessment of the reserves, "this scourge implicitly attracts groundless transfers from hierarchically higher budgets, triggering lack of balance for the public money on the whole." The CCRM displayed concern also by the fact that the Chisinau authorities do not record public real estate and about 700 hectares of land at the cadastre. Civil servants gave assurances that they work to remove such types of deficiencies.

Another contradictorily discussed subject was the illegal collection of money from parents in schools and kindergartens. A representative of the department in charge of education said that the topic is permanently discussed, yet with no result. Although the Education Ministry proposed a regulation to this effect last autumn, the Prosecutor General's Office deems it as illegal. Chisinau city hall civil servants said the money earmarked by the state for capital's schools and kindergartens covers only a half of the needs.

Attending the meeting, Chisinau general mayor Dorin Chirtoaca admitted the existence of gaps. Yet, he insisted that a part of the blame lies with the Chisinau municipal council (CMC). "Where there are infringements by heads of subdivisions, they must be directly responsible. On the other hand, aspects where there are different viewpoints are to be cleared up," the Chisinau mayor added.