Subject: NTA audit on a public benefit enterprise (Legal Entity of Private Law) municipality of Epirus with the subject of culture and sports, regarding the presence of an employee-musician and the relevant supervision of the competent bodies of the institution.
Following an anonymous complaint, the NTA carried out an audit in a public benefit enterprise (Legal Entity of Private Law) of a municipality of Epirus, with the subject of the illegal presence of an employee with an indefinite contract and the relevant supervision by the competent bodies of the institution. The employee was the Head of the relevant philharmonic while holding a similar position in a municipality of the region of Western Greece. Before the start of the audit, the employee had already been disciplined for failure to submit declarations under Law 1256/1982 on polytheism.
The audit revealed the following:
- The attendance records - timesheets provided showed the staff member working the prescribed working hours in both organisations, although it was found that this was practically impossible in the case of audited organization (a gap of only one hour between the end of one working hour and the start of the other, while the road distance between the two organisations requires at least 2½ hours to cover).
- The above inaccurate attendance time sheets were signed by the immediate Head superior and by the Head of an unauthorised Department of the auditee
- The employee’s immediate Head did not check as required the attendance and observance of working hours and did not certify the accrued working hours to the Payroll Department
- As a result, only during the period January-April 2023, part of the employee's remuneration, amounting to at least €1,009.72, was unduly paid.
- The Payroll Administrator of the institution consistently failed to withhold the prescribed payroll tax on the employee's remuneration.
Following the above and in accordance with the Organisational Chart, the administration of the organization was requested to exercise disciplinary proceedings, for the imposition of the following penalties:
- the permanent dismissal of the staff member
- a fine to the official’s immediate Head
- a reprimand to the Head who unauthorisedly co-signed the inaccurate attendance records; and
- a reprimand to the payroll administrator
In addition, the institution’s management was requested to recover the aforementioned, unduly paid salaries, the retroactive withholding of the lost payroll tax and the installation of an electronic system for monitoring working hours.