Parliament has broken its own laws by failing to present audited accounts for 2018.

The administration of the House of Representatives, headed by Speaker Anġlu Farrugia, was not in a position to present the accounts – in breach of the Parliamentary Services Act – because it did not manage to recruit an accountant to perform the task.

The observation was made by the National Audit Office, which found the administration of Parliament to be in breach of other good governance rules, particularly on procurement and the disbursement of funds to the Labour and Nationalist parties.

The administration of the House is given an annual budget of over €6 million to run Parliament. It is bound by law to present audited accounts to the House Business Committee at the end of every year.

The NAO audit found that this had not yet been done. According to Parliament’s management, no accountant could be recruited to do the job.

Noting that this was in breach of the law, the national audit office recommended that the parliamentary services consider the possibility of outsourcing the task through a reputable accounting company.

“The NAO is of the opinion that not only would the engagement of such services bring the Parliamentary Service in line with the legal requirements, but it would also serve to strengthen its current and long-term internal accounting setup,” the NAO said.

Procurement was another issue raised by the NAO. It found that certain services had started to be provided before the contracts were signed and, in some instances, contracts were re-newed through direct orders.

A case in point was the contract for cleaning, which is costing the taxpayer more than €43,000 a year.

The NAO found that while the cleaning contract had been entered into for a year, renewable by another, this was later extended for another period through a direct order approved by the Finance Ministry.

According to the rules, after two years, this job should be contracted through a public call for tenders.

The same situation was found in a contract related to audio visual services amounting to more than €77,000 a year.

Two months after the contract expired, and was supposed to be up for public tender again, the House of Representatives retrospectively requested direct order approval and the job is still being done without any formal authorisation.

The disbursement of €200,000 by the State to the PL and PN for the development of relations with the EU also came under the NAO’s scrutiny: neither party has given any explanation on whether these funds are being used for their intended purpose.

The scheme – providing €100,000 to each of the two larger parties – was introduced in 1999 and was intended to help them prepare for EU membership.

However, 15 years after accession, the funds are still being granted to the parties and there is no documentation to show how the money is being spent.

The issue had already been raised by the Speaker who said the original agreements needed to be revisited.

The NAO said the House should assess whether the two political parties are still entitled to receive this financial assistance.

If the scheme is allowed to carry on, the necessary supporting documentation is to be presented to substantiate the disbursement of funds.