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Following OLAF investigation, local institutions close IPARD II audit for 2023

2025-08-28 07:48:00, Aktualitet CNA

In addition to the investigation undertaken 2 years ago by OLAF for the IPARD II program, the audit by local state institutions for the 2023 financial year of the program has been completed, while 2024 is in progress.

The EU-Accredited Assistance Programme Audit Agency (AAPAA), an institution under the Council of Ministers, which focuses on auditing transactions of funds from EU programmes, before and after accession, has published its annual report for 2024.

Among other things, the report published by AAPAA highlights that for the financial year 2023 of the IPARD II program, the audit of operations, the audit of accounts, the annual audit report and opinion, as well as the follow-up of previous findings and recommendations have been completed. For the financial year 2024 of the IPARD program, the system audit was concluded in September 2024, while the audit of operations is still expected to be completed in January 2025. The Audit Strategy for the period 2025–2027 has also been finalized, with a submission deadline of November 2024.

Meanwhile, it is learned that the report includes a series of findings, violations and opinions (which have not been published on the official website), but they are presented to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers.

The IPARD II programme, which included a total fund of 94.6 million euros, of which 71 million euros were European Union funding, was implemented during the period 2018–2023. During this period, the funds were distributed in sectors such as farm investments, milk, meat and fruit and vegetable processing. In the first and second calls, around 57.6 million euros were distributed, while in the third call, 29.1 million euros were financed for farm investments and processing.

In July 2023, the European Commission temporarily suspended funding for the IPARD II programme following allegations of corruption and investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). In 2024, OLAF announced that it had identified €33 million in funds from the first and second calls for the programme as inappropriate.

After the program closed in December 2023, Brussels granted an additional one-year grace period for payments of the remaining funds, providing that entities complete the documentation within the 6-month deadline.

"IPARD II was closed in December 2023. There was also an extension of the deadline for payments that could not be made in 2023, a 1-year permission was given by Brussels for payments to continue.

"In cases where we monitor with internal structures and find that entities have not submitted the documentation within the due date, we cannot pay them. The regulation strictly stipulates that the deadline for completing the documentation is 6 months," explained Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Anila Denaj earlier in a meeting with journalists.

Minister Denaj also announced that in 2026, the evaluation by Brussels and the opening of 9 new measures of the IPARD III program are expected, which is expected to have a total fund of 146 million euros, marking an increase of 55% compared to IPARD II. This program will include 9 new financing measures, while IPARD II had only 3 measures.

The IPARD II program, which was included in an investigation process by OLAF, had a total fund of 94.6 million euros in total, of which 71 million euros were EU funding.

During its implementation from 2018 to 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, 20.6 million euros were disbursed in 2018, 15.6 million euros were given in 2019, 26.8 million euros were distributed in 2020, and 31.6 million euros were given for the years 2021-2022.

In the first year, IPARD II grants supported investments in farms, in the dairy, meat and fruit and vegetable processing sectors. The total budget available for the first and second calls was 57.6 million euros.

In the third call, IPARD II financed 29.1 million euros in two support measures for investments in farms and processing./ Monitor