An external audit of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), which, according to the Constitution, is the guarantor of the independence of the judiciary and ensures its self-governance, as well as audits of other courts, revealed multiple breaches of financial discipline. The main one is the mismatch of costs with needs.
In 2022-2023, 1,089.9 million lei was allocated from the state budget for the maintenance of the SCM and the courts, the principle of using which is qualified as wasteful by the supreme body of external audit.
Thus, the audit revealed the absence of uniform rules for granting one-time bonuses and allowances. Also, some courts applied internal acts on performance-based bonuses, which do not fully comply with the provisions of the national legislation.
The courts practiced incorrect calculation of vacation pay. Due to the lack of harmonization between the Law on the Judiciary and the Labor Code, some courts incorrectly calculated the number of vacation days due to judges. This has led to erroneous allowances being set. “This aspect reflects a legislative ‘gray area’ that requires clarification,” the Accounts Chamber auditors believe.
In addition, in many cases, courts do not set clear limits on the annual mileage of cars, and some overestimate the rate of fuel consumption without proper documentary justification.
There remains a problem with the social contributions of the judiciary. Some courts incur expenses in excess of the approved limits for mandatory state social insurance contributions. The total amount of the excess is about 1.85 million lei.
Also, cases were detected when persons who did not actually work in courts benefited from illegal salary payments totaling 219 thousand lei.
As a result, the auditors found artificial understatement of receivables and payables. The amount of budgetary commitments for salary payments was reflected incorrectly: understated by more than 2 million lei in 2022 and by almost 2.8 million lei in 2023.
During the period of external control, the Moldovan judicial system consisted of 15 courts, four courts of appeal (Chisinau, Balti, Cahul and Comrat) and the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ).
