Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia
 
16.07.2012.

PRESS RELEASE



1. The allegations published at the site pištaljka.rs on the irregularities which were allegedly stated by the Inspection of the Department for Internal Audit in the Ministry of Finance during the control of the implementation of public procurement in the Ministry of Defence are completely untrue.

2. Paying the contractual obligations to the Jugohemija commissioner in advance for the telecommunications equipment was appropriate according to findings by an Inspection, because this saved 83 million dinars (MoD Audit Report, 47 pages).

3. Transfer of funds to accounts of commercial banks when purchasing goods and services is done by the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance, so that the Ministry of Defence cannot influence on time of allocation of resources and exchange losses. Similar problems were experienced by other ministries as well.

4. Decision by the Minister of Defence approved the purchase of 19 passenger cars with light and sound signalling with the total contract value of RSD 104 102 379.39 including VAT. It is true that the Commission of the Procurement Department has proposed a lesser amount (excluding VAT), but during the estimation they took into account the characteristics of the standard commercial models of vehicles, which was not a real amount. Enclosed is an explanation why the purchase was declared confidential.

5. Procurement plans are changing due to shifting of the term for adoption of the budget, on which the Ministry of Defence has no influence.

6. According to Article 75 of the Law on Budget System, Inspection had the right and obligation to initiate proceedings for liability if irregularities were determined, which was not done because there was no reason for that in any case.

7. The process of purchasing flats for the needs of the Ministry of Defence in 2008 was fully in accordance with the Law on Assets Owned by the Republic of Serbia, which at that time was the only authoritative law for the disposal of immovable property in the RS. Acquisition of real estate owned by the RS is not done according to the Law on Public Procurement.

8. Inspection Report carried a classification level, because it accurately describes the weapons and telecommunications equipment which was purchased by the MoD for the Serbian Armed Forces, which is classified information in all countries.

9. Following the findings of the Inspection, the Ministry of Defence has acted upon its recommendation, and obtained the consent of the Fund SOVO for the procurement of medicines, which was has been performed in the usual way during the last several decades.
 
MOD
Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia, Bircaninova 5 street, Belgrade
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