Senior embezzlers should be punished, senators say

Members of the Nation’s Council criticized the shortcomings and contradictions that came within the report containing the Budget Settlement Act for the year 2011, and stressed the need to adjust the budget law in the autumn session of the next year instead of using the method currently in place, and that contributes in the embezzlement of those responsible of the people’s money without being subjected to punishment, noting that justice shed its sword only on the “small embezzlers”, while the “Big embezzlers” remain without punishment, calling for the need to punish those who rob people’s money, considering the absence of ministers to listen to the Board of Accounting in the national People’s Assembly and then the Nation’s Council, and listen only to the Finance Minister, is a hit against the credibility of parliament.

Senator Ibrahim Meziani for FFS said on Wednesday, during the presentation of the Budget Settlement Act for the year 2011, by the Finance Minister, Karim Djoudi, that there are amazing figures about the budget of conducting the completion of the Foreign Ministry Headquarters.

“This confirmed that there are many violations of laws in most ministries, including the Foreign Ministry, because of the lack of real control such as restoring the evaluation of projects and its negative effects on the Treasury. The cost was set at the beginning of the project at 500 million ZDZ, then it was doubled later to 38 times to reach 18.9 billion ZDZ”, Ibrahim Meziani added.

“There is a need to adjust the budget law in the autumn session of the next year instead of the working with the current way”.

Senator Moussa Tamedertaza of FFS objected on the way the sectors spend money due to the absence of billing and excessive spending without justification, as well as the existence of funds that are granted to sectors without the need, considering that the mechanisms of control at parliament are weak and failed.

“Job positional which remain open in several sectors such as education, health, higher education, vocational training, agriculture and other sectors, despite the fact that the state has allocated financial positions, asking to make clarifications about its fate. The problem of tax evasion, according to a report shows that Algeria lost $100 billion because of tax evasion”.

For his part, member of the National’s Council, Abdelkader Kassi, asserted the importance of modernizing the tax administration at the state level, departments, and the composition of the human element to avoid procrastination in fiscal collection procedures.

Sen. Bouzid Belaiab for the National Liberation Front said; “There are imbalances in the management and processing that caused delays in the implementation of the annual schemes with a large rate that exceeded 40%. Some funds deviate from the allocated purpose. A deficit is registered in the GDP by 37%. Management of procedures should be reconsidered in the future to avoid repeating the mistakes that managers commit each year”.