KAO Audit Reveals Financial Irregularities in the Municipality of Prishtina for 2025

The National Audit Office (KAO) has identified a number of irregularities in the financial administration of the Municipality of Prishtina for 2025, including overstatement of liabilities and receivables, misclassification of expenditures, delays in making payments, shortcomings in procurement, and weaknesses in the management of capital projects. For the annual financial statements, the audit report issued a qualified opinion for the municipality, KosovaPress reports.

The report explains that this qualified opinion is related to the overstatement of unpaid liabilities, the overstatement of receivables, the misclassification of expenditures by economic categories, as well as the inaccurate presentation of contingent liabilities in the financial statements.

The auditors also assessed that part of the Municipality’s processes and transactions were not carried out in accordance with the legislation in force. According to the findings, delays were identified in implementing decisions related to taxpayers’ complaints, inaccuracies in calculating fees for the impact of increased infrastructure density, shortcomings in the supervision of the project implemented with UNDP, as well as violations in procurement procedures and in the management of capital investments.

The report also underscores that the Municipality entered into contractual obligations for capital projects without having sufficient funds available, opened procurement procedures without first securing the necessary permits, delayed the payment of invoices beyond the legal deadline in 42 cases worth more than 8.1 million euros, and made payments for capital investments of more than 10.1 million euros by taking funds from other projects without the prior approval of the Municipal Assembly.

According to the KAO, the audit also noted weaknesses in internal control and financial management. These include inaccuracies in the recording and presentation of assets, in their inventorying, in debt collection, and in the monitoring of capital projects. The municipality also faced financial difficulties as a result of high payments made on the basis of court decisions, which by December 31, 2025 had reached 45.69 million euros.

The KAO states that a total of 25 recommendations emerged from this report. Of these, 14 are repeated recommendations, eight are new, three are found to have been partially implemented, while two were addressed during the audit process itself. The institution announced that the implementation of these recommendations will be monitored in the next audit.