Central budget not legitimate: CHP leader

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

Cihan Photo

The current central budget is not legitimate, as the Court of Auditors’ reports have not been submitted to Parliament, despite some 132 related reports having been prepared, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said.

“I said last year that the Court of Auditors’ reports had not been submitted to us. Some 132 reports were prepared, but none of the Court of Auditors’ reports came to Parliament. One of the people responsible is Cemil Çiçek, the president of Parliament. The budget is not legitimate, and the Cabinet does not want to give an account to Parliament,” Kılıçdaroğlu said during the budget debates in Parliament on Dec. 10.

He added that his party had asked for the auditing reports to be submitted, but this request was not met.

“They are afraid of the government. They are afraid of upsetting Prime Minister Erdoğan. The reports of the Court of Auditors must, however, be submitted to Parliament to be checked. It is an honor for a government to account for its expenditures. I’m afraid that some people will support a government that is afraid of giving account of its expenditures. Such a government is corrupt,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu also suggested that the auditing reports were “not clean,” adding that otherwise they would have been given permission to inspect all of the reports.

“I believe these reports have pages showing some dirty things, bits of corruption. The Cabinet does not want to give account, so its members are hiding the reports,” he said, adding that this showed “disrespect” to Parliament.

“If Cabinet members had shown some respect, they would not have prevented the reports of an authority that audits all central income and expenditures for us to be submitted,” he leader said.
[HH] Democratic or totalitarian regime?

“[Auditing] is a rule in all democracies. Only totalitarian regimes are an exception. The Court of Auditors is a part of the same crime by not giving any information to Parliament,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

While on the subject, the CHP leader also particularly noted that a draft law was prepared by the government earlier this year to abolish all auditing and checking authorities of the Court of Auditors.
“We, some media outlets, and NGOs have objected to the draft. But the draft is now waiting,” he said.
Some 42 of the 50 members of the Court of Auditors were chosen by the government, Kılıçdaroğlu also emphasized, adding that “they cleared all corruption traces.”

Some reports were uncovered by the media and some are in the hands of the opposition, he added. “It is no importance for us to have them, but a ruler must be asking its deputies what is going on. We did not give ministerial status to the current ministers to cover up corruption, but to be honest. We wanted them to account for each expenditure to Parliament,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu also said he could meet Erdoğan in Parliament to discuss the economy.

“Not only is the country indebted, but so is every citizen. We want the Central Bank to be fully independent. A final audit commission must be established to discuss the budget. The commission must be headed by an opposition member and the government must be held to account,” he said.