Private trips to Split: Bevanda waived daily allowances, but his driver was duly compensated

Numerous financial reports of institutions and ministries will be on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament on Wednesday. Among others, the report of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, headed by Vjekoslav Bevanda (HDZ BiH), will be considered, writes the Patria agency.

Although one might initially expect the financial audit to show that everything is in accordance with the law, the auditors did point out deficiencies and weaknesses in the public procurement system, which are reflected in the inefficiency in carrying out the procedures themselves, the implementation of procedures and the realization of contracts, deficiencies observed during the realization of travel expenses for trips abroad, and deficiencies and weaknesses identified during the realization of vehicle maintenance costs regarding the retroactive application of the Framework Agreement or contract and realized work contracts.

We will focus on Minister Bevanda's travel expenses. In 2015, expenses for travel costs amounted to BAM 162,803, of which BAM 13,269 relate to expenses for official trips within the country, and BAM 149,534 to expenses for official trips abroad.

In the budget request for 2015 and in the approved budget for 2015, BAM 145,000 was approved for travel expenses. In the submitted travel plan for 2015 in the Ministry, the planned amount for travel expenses is BAM 130,799. In the plan of official trips for the Minister's Cabinet for 2015, 15 days are planned for meetings in Zagreb, and 48 days for Split. The purpose of the planned trips to Split is not stated. However, Minister Bevanda's asset declaration states that his wife owns an apartment in Split, which means these were private visits.

A review of the attendance records for July, August, and October, as well as an insight into the travel orders, revealed discrepancies between those of the minister and the driver/escort of the minister (different descriptions for the same days).

- An insight into the travel order book for official trips showed an increased frequency of trips to the Republic of Croatia during the year (including weekends), where the driver is recognized for foreign daily allowances and hotel accommodation costs during official trips, which are justified through the Ministry's cash register. In the driver's/escort's travel orders, in most cases, it is stated as "official" or "by order of the minister." It was observed that the minister is usually not issued a travel order when traveling to Croatia, with the verbal explanation that the minister waives the compensation (daily allowances) related to the realized trips.

The auditors recommended that the attendance records, i.e., the number of days spent on official trips by the minister and the driver/escort of the minister, need to be harmonized.

- We recommend reviewing the justification of payments for foreign travel expenses for weekends for the driver, the minister's escort. It is necessary to state the purpose of the official trip for every travel order that is not classified as confidential. We recommend that a travel order be issued for every official trip, regardless of whether the person traveling collects compensation (daily allowances) based on those trips. Delays in justifying individual orders from the sample for official trips abroad were also observed. For official trips where an employee's car is used as a means of transport, the time of crossing the border is not stated in some cases. An insight into the travel order book shows that the numbers of issued travel orders for official trips are not linked to the numbers in the Ministry's travel order book - the report states.