Audit Bureau: Irregularities at Libya’s Embassy in Bosnia Involving More Than €165,000 and 65.9 Thousand Bosnian Marks

The Audit Bureau revealed in its 2024 report the existence of irregularities at the Libyan Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These included the failure to submit revenue and expenditure reports for the financial year to the competent authorities in accordance with the Budget, Accounts, and Stores Regulations, despite correspondence from the Director of the Financial Controllers Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report also noted the absence of a dedicated register to track the movement of financial advances (cash advances) disbursed during the financial years under review, in which the amounts, expenditures, and remaining balances should have been recorded. In addition, the financial controller carried out all tasks alone—preparation, review, treasury, and approval of all procedures—based on the documents, as well as disbursing financial advances to himself and completing their settlement procedures. The report also pointed out that some amounts were received by individuals who were not the beneficiaries listed on the payment orders.

The report continued: the self-generated revenues collected by the embassy’s cultural office amounted to 65.9 thousand Bosnian marks, with 11.2 thousand Bosnian marks transferred to the tax revenue account at Sberbank. There was a discrepancy between the statement showing revenue movements prepared by the financial controller and submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the detailed revenue values reflected in the bank accounts. The report also found the existence of deposits carried forward in the embassy’s account from previous years, which the embassy disposed of without legal justification and without obtaining the necessary approvals from the competent authorities. Furthermore, an amount of €12.7 thousand was paid to a Bosnian citizen hired to work for the committee and to a locally contracted embassy employee in return for sending him several times to Turkey and Serbia. The head of the inventory committee for the yard area, /N.A., also forwarded correspondence related to renting an office for the committee’s work and charged several fictitious expenses, including equipment, fuel, and heating, which were approved by embassy officials. Below are examples of amounts spent without legal justification.

The report added: upon reviewing payment orders related to renting the committee’s office, it was found that the amount was not paid to the property owner’s account but rather to a committee member, /A.S.B. The monthly rent was €1,800 for a two-year term renewable thereafter. A payment order of €50,000 was issued and paid to a member of the Wounded Committee in the Bosnian field, along with another payment order of €66,500 paid to the head of the Wounded Committee in the Bosnian field, /N.A., for transportation, accommodation, and living expenses in Turkey. It was found that these expenses related to the Turkish field and were not connected to the treatment of the wounded in Bosnia.

The report further noted the failure to attach entry and exit visas and stamps for the concerned individuals to Bosnia, despite the disbursement of accommodation and lodging expenses at the Bristol Hotel amounting to €7,850, which were received by the financial controller, /A.E.S., with no evidence of their delivery to the concerned parties. In addition, an amount of 9,000 Bosnian marks was paid as salaries for teachers at the Libyan school for the month of December, despite the school not having obtained accreditation or an operating license from the Bosnian state and the Ministry of Education, noting that the school has been inactive since 2022.