Following complaints, a team of Auditors – Inspectors of the Directorate of Public Works and Transports of the National Transparency Authority (NΤΑ) inspected Driving Schools, Driving Candidate Theoretical Training Centres, and Transport and Communications Directorates with regard to the process of issuing driving licenses. The audit work was assisted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, through the information from its electronic registers. Subsequently, the Authority, using the Simple Random Sampling/SRS method, identified - where required - a representative sample of the driving license files to be checked.
The findings of the audit can be summarised as follows:
- Extensive involvement of the human factor in the envisaged complex procedures for issuing driving licenses increases the risk of developing sources of corruption (e.g. financial transactions between officials, candidate drivers & their representatives, examiners, instructors and their trade unions).
- Lack of effective internal supervision of the procedures followed as some serious omissions, irregularities, shortcomings in supporting documents and files were identified. (ed: Driving Licensing Departments of the Transport & Communications Directorates of the country's Regions).
- Not fully automated procedures for the theoretical examination of candidate drivers, despite the large number of licenses issued annually. The computerised system for the theoretical examination of driving candidates is characterised internally as technologically outdated and unreliable, with the possibility of tampering, copying the software and issuing dummy test records.
- Conducting an entirely handwritten special theoretical examination for granting a Driving license for a Public Service Vehicle/TAXI driving license. A procedure which in relevant reports of the District Internal Audit Department has been considered as high risk (no guarantees of integrity and no safety nets applied).
- Successful theoretical examination of foreigners in Greek (and for the granting of a special TAXI driving license) while they were not able to understand the language because falsified language certificates were found.
- Issuance of driving licenses - including professional categories of heavy passenger vehicles - by the competent organisational units (Driving Licensing Departments of the Transport & Communications Directorates of the country's Regions) without prior examination (theoretical or practical) of the candidate drivers, in breach of essential rules of the institutional framework.
- Virtual certification by a supervisor in the required documents of the practical examination of driver candidates in Driver Training and Examination Forms which had not been carried out.
- Scheduling of theoretical or practical examinations for candidate drivers without the prior completion of the training or theoretical examination required by law, as the case may be.
- Issuing and issuing a driving license without the required fee having been paid or reserved in advance in favor of the public authorities, resulting in a loss of public revenue.
- Loss/non-finding of a large number of driving license files in the physical archives of the services. Fragmentary and incomplete maintenance of the physical file of the paper files of driving licenses and driving license candidates, which made it difficult to carry out checks (in particular on-the-spot checks).
- Lack of proximity in terms of equal treatment of candidates with representatives (processors, instructors, etc.) and candidates without representatives when scheduling the theoretical and practical tests.
- Operation of driving schools and centers for theoretical training of driving candidates without the required license or the granting of an operating license to a driving school or driving school without fulfilling all the terms and conditions laid down in the legislation (e.g. incomplete or insufficient supporting documents, failure to carry out initial autopsies, etc.).
- Exercise of training activities of candidate drivers without fulfilling the requirements of the legislation (even without a professional license due to non-renewal or failure of 'old' instructors - with a license issued before 2002 - to comply with the provisions of Decree-Law 208/2002, as in force at the time of the audit).
- Virtual recording of courses in the school's books, resulting in driving licenses being issued without the required number of training courses having been completed.
- Conducting of internal audits in the Transport and Communications Directorates without accountability.
- A high pass rate - for the first time - in the practical examinations for driving license candidates in almost all regions of the country, in some cases approaching 100%.
Recommendations and proposals were made as following:
The National Transparency Authority Reports sought disciplinary responsibility, by the competent bodies in each case, for a large number of employees and instructors, owners of Driving Schools and Candidate Driving Theory Training Centres, examiners of practical examinations for candidate drivers.
The reports have been forwarded to the Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal for the criminal assessment of the facts contained in them; in most cases, a preliminary investigation has been initiated by order of the prosecutor and a case file has been drawn up.