Audit Service: Revenue Service Signs Contract with Synergy Group with Conflict of Interest
The State Audit Service has published a report on compliance of Revenue Services in 2016-2017.
According to the report, the contract agreement was signed with Synergy Group in 2017 under simplified procedures and this deal comprises signs of the conflict of interests.
The Audit Service asserts that under the Georgian Law on Procurement, in case of relations determined by article 19 of Georgian Tax Code, the conflict of interests arises between controlling and supervisory physical body and the supplier.
“On July 24, 2017, Revenue Service and LLC Synergy Group signed a state procurement agreement on purchasing HR management consulting services of 60 000 GEL. Twenty bodies appointed by Revenue Service for the agreement control were freelancers, who were contracted 3 months earlier before signing an agreement with Synergy.
Freelancers and the supplier company were interdependent bodies, as, under the Public Registry information, they jointly held a stake in other enterprise. To avoid the conflict of interests, the freelancers were to divulge the mentioned circumstance and terminate participation in the procurement, but it has not taken such a step.
According to the Revenue Service, “the freelancer has not taken part in selecting the applicants and signing the agreement. The mentioned project was agreed with the Minister of Finance and IMF mission and the project was approved with the consent and involvement of various interested and authorized bodies”.