The Auditor General, in a statement after a meeting of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, after thanking the members of the Committee, who directly discussed the two legislations, said that we hope that the Parliament will vote in favor of them in its Plenary Session, on Thursday.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, George Georgiou, said that the bill and the regulations will be put before the Plenary for a vote on Thursday, adding that the placement of the parties will be done in the Plenary.
"We did our duty despite the unacceptable delay and their submission last," he said, explaining that the legislation was submitted to Parliament just before the last session of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Georgiou explained that the regulations will be implemented by all contracting authorities in the public and wider public sector, adding that the essence is to institutionalize the exclusion of contractors who have financed in order to undertake the projects.
The Auditor General said that the legislation includes issues in which society expects to see the state take action.
He further explained that there are provisions in the legislation according to which contractors who admitted or proved to have given bribes to undertake public contracts are excluded for up to five years.
He said the authorities would now have the tools to handle these cases in the most appropriate way.
Answering a question, he explained that the big difference with the current framework concerns the provisions for bribery.
He further explained that the competent body to deal with these cases will be the Exclusion Committee, noting that the Attorney General and the Auditor General will participate in the meetings of the Exclusion Committee as observers.
He also expressed the view that the composition of the Exclusion Committee provides the guarantees for a high level of management and the taking of appropriate decisions.
He explained that if someone considers that he was unjustly excluded, he will have the right to appeal to the administrative court, noting that the Parliament will legislate for the establishment of this body and will give him the tools to function, examining each case and making his decisions.
Responding to a question, he said that the Audit Office expressed its strong disagreement with the annulment decision of the Tender Review Committee, for a previous decision that excluded specific contractors (allegedly involved in bribes) from a tender.
Mr. Michailidis explained that it will not be easy for a blacklisted company to be dissolved and a new one created, as the new company will not have the necessary experience to undertake new contracts.
Concluding, the Auditor General said that he does not share the image created that the contractors were blackmailed to give bribes, adding that we have contractors who, in order to get new projects, which should normally be the subject of an open tender, bribe.
The MP of the Movement of Ecologists - Citizens' Cooperation, George Perdikis, stated that he will vote in favor of the legislation because he wants to give the tool to the state to hunt down the swindlers.
From Thursday the ball will be in the state court, which will have the tools to stop the fiasco with the Tender Review Committee, he said, recalling that behind every scandal there is a wrong decision of the Tender Review Authority.
Mr. Perdikis said that today there is an Exclusion Committee, which is the Contractors' Registration Council, from which he asked last April to investigate what happened in SAPA, and to apply disciplinary measures against the contractors involved.
A disciplinary inquiry has been under way since last April and has not yet been concluded, he said, noting that the council could revoke or downgrade licenses for contractors and contractors.
Source: KYPE