Turkish Court of Accounts doesn’t reveal audit reports, raising concerns about transparency

Hacer Boyacıoğlu - ANKARA

AA photo

The Turkish Court of Auditors has not announced its annual audit reports publicly, reversing the practice of releasing detailed reports in the past, raising concerns about transparency in public spending. 

The Court of Auditors presented the audit reports of 74 state-run companies, some of which were among the country’s largest enterprises, to parliament and related ministries. However, these reports were not revealed publicly, as only a 236-page general audit report on the State-Owned Economic Enterprises, dubbed the KİTs in Turkey, was announced publicly.

On the last day of 2015, the authority said it had audited a total of 74 KİTs, including the Turkish Radio and Television Corp (TRT), the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and Turkey’s Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), in line with the Constitutional Law, the Court of Auditors Law and the KİT Law. 

“The annual audit reports were presented to the Development Ministry, the treasury and parliament for further audit in consultation with the KİT Commission in addition to the responses from the audited enterprises and the comments from the related ministries on Dec. 29, 2015. The 2014 Public Enterprises General Report, which was prepared in accordance with the 3rd paragraph of the 43rd article of the Court of Auditors Law that makes it a must to announce the general report covering the annual activity results of the audited enterprises publicly, has herein been published,” said the Court of Auditors. 

The authority tied the non-announcement of the detailed reports about a total of 74 KİTs to the 43rd article of its own code, but the 44th article of the same law states the public announcement of the detailed reports. 

“The Court of Audit reports are publicly announced 15 days after their presentation to parliament and the related public authorities by the president of the Court of Auditors or by a vice president who is given the authority by the president with the exception of any cases in which such announcement is banned by law,” said the 44th article. 

The law makes the public announcement of the audit reports regarding the public entities in the hands of defense, security and intelligence authorities possible through a separate regulation.