On 29 November – 1 December 2009 the Auditor General Ms Rasa Budbergytė will participate in the Meeting of the Contact Committee of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the European Union. The Auditor General will be accompanied by Ms Dainora Venckevičienė, Director of the International Relations Departament. The meeting programme will include the Seminar on the “Role of an SAI in assisting the government measures in response to the financial-economic crisis”, it will also cover EU and CC co-operation network as well as the Contact Committee Activities in 2009 and 2010. Read more

Following the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) assent to a proposal to nominate the Auditor General Ms Rasa Budbergytė for membership of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the Government today adopted a resolution concerning nomination of Ms Budbergytė candidacy to the ECA members. Given the Council of the European Union approves of the candidacy of Ms Budbergytė, she will start in her new position as a member of the ECA by the beginning of May next year.

Ms Budbergytė said that this nomination is the recognition of the work results of the National Audit Office during the last five years. „I value and appreciate the trust the State Heads and politicians have placed on me to represent Lithuania in one of the main institutions of the European Union. This assent shows that the National Audit Office’s input into the effective management of the state finance and property is visible and valued. It would not have been possible to achieve those results without dedicated work of all our staff at the National Audit Office”, said the Auditor General. Read more

Costs of closure of Ignalina nuclear power plant (INPP) goes up, the estimated completion dates are rescheduled, therefore resources of Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund may be insufficient, and national Budget funds may be used to that end. Such was an opinion of the National Audit Office, which had analysed decommissioning of the power plant. “In order to improve the current situation, our State should take on more leverage to manage the closure process,“ says Auditor General Rasa Budbergytė.

The NAOL recommended the Government to authorize an independent entity to carry out the monitoring and management of projects implemented by the power plant, to ensure the control of decommissioning of the nuclear power plant and to be directly accountible to Governmental institutions. Read more

On 23-24 November 2009 The President of the Court of Accounts Mrs Ala Popescu will pay an official visit to the National Audit of Lithuania. During the visit Mrs Popescu will be accompanied by Mrs Natalia Trofim, Director of the Audit Departament, and Mr Sergiu Ivanov, Senior consultant, International Relations Division. The visit agenda will focus on sharing information on the law of SAI, audit of local budgets, annual audit plan, annual report, management of human recourses, staff training and Relations with Parliament. The President will also visit the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania where she will meet Mrs Loreta Graužinienė, Chair of the Audit Committee, and Committee Members.

In the view of the National Audit Office, the draft State Budget for 2010 drawn up by the Government essentially conforms to provisions of the Law on the Budget Structure, however, only partially implements the recommendation of the Council of the European Union to correct the current excessive deficit no later than by 2011. “The planning of the Budget revenue in the next year by the Ministry of Finance is prudent, resisting optimistic illusions, therefore Budget collection plans should be accomplished,” says the Auditor General Rasa Budbergytė. However, reserves of revenue collection and saving are not yet exhausted. Read more

“We are pleased with the fact that activities of the National Audit Office interest increasing numbers of University and College students, even schoolchildren, therefore we will continue our active communication with the young people, we will introduce them to the work of our institution, our values, and will encourage them to tie their professional future to civil service,” says the Auditor General Rasa Budbergytė summing up results of four lectures delivered to students in recent weeks.

“We welcome all those willing to visit the National Audit Office or to invite our staff to their institutions. The young people are one of the most receptive, proactive, and energetic groups in our society. We believe that by spreading ideas of the progressive and efficient State, rational management of its resources, as well as encouraging the interest of the youth in civil service we promote the public sector progress,” says Ms Budbergytė. Read more

“It is not known in Lithuania what damage the VAT plunderers cause to the State Budget. However, in various estimations it may amount from LTL 0.5 bn to LTL 1 bn. Measures to combat such activities employed by the State Tax Inspectorate (STI) and Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) are not efficient enough“, states the Auditor General Rasa Budbergytė summarizing public audit report Measures Employed by Public Institutions to Combat the VAT Evasion and Fraud.
 It was detected during the audit that legislation does not prevent the establishment and existing of bogus entities, while control and law enforcement institutions do not possess enough information for prevention and control of criminal acts of these entities. In the view of the National Audit Office, control measures employed by the STI to combat the VAT evasion and fraud are insufficient. Read more