Believes Auditing Chamber

The Auditing Chamber of Ukraine has announced that the Cabinet of Ministers is utilizing Reserve Fund resources “at its own discretion,” Interfax-Ukraine reports. This conclusion wound up the discussion of the report on auditing the utilization of Reserve Fund resources last year.

The law On Ukraine's State Budget for 1998 fixed the Cabinet of Ministers' Reserve Fund at UAH 300 million. At least 125 Cabinet resolutions authorized allocating UAH 476.8 million, i.e., UAH 176.8 million more than allowed by law.

The Auditing Chamber found that all decision concerning allocation of Reserve Fund resources were made impromptu, that is, not at Cabinet sessions. In the final analysis, governmental officials even failed to present all the necessary documents to “justify the economic expediency and efficiency of allocating Reserve Fund resources.”

The Auditing Chamber's report also points to violations in financing state administrations' internal policy departments established by presidential decree. These were maintained at the expense of local budgets and some certain sources, while these departments should be financed at the expense of national budget funds allotted to local administrations. This resulted in an unlawful spending of UAH 123,900 in 1998 and UAH 241,400 in the first quarter of 1999.

The Auditing Chamber board decided to propose that Verkhovna Rada put on the agenda the utilization of Cabinet Reserve Fund resources in the past year, and oblige the Ministry of Finance to take urgent measures to return the budgetary loans granted from the Reserve Fund and instruct the Chief of the State Treasury to establish effective control over the targeted use of Reserve Fund money.