The director of Transurb Galati illegally “swollen” his salary at 19,000 lei a month. What was discovered after the Court of Account Audit
An audit of the Court of Accounts revealed serious irregularities in managing public funds by Transurb Galați, starting from the “swollen” salary of the general manager and other employees, to table and gift vouchers and inventory problems.
Audit with problems at Transurb Galati. Photo: Facebook/Transurb Galati
A recent report made by the Galati Court of Accounts has revealed significant deficiencies in the way in which the Transurb Public Transport operator manages the financial resources. The irregularities discovered concern in particular the salary of the general manager and other heads of compartments, the benefits granted illegally to the employees, given that the company is on loss and lack of transparency in public procurement, informs monitor.
The salary of the general manager over the legal limit
In the first nine months of 2024, the general director of Transurb, Ghiță Paraschiv, benefited from a monthly gross allowance of 19,000 lei. It exceeded with over 3,000 lei the established legal ceiling, ie the equivalent of three times the average gross salary in the field of transport (approximately 15,700 lei).
This illegal payment was rectified only during the audit, and the management renegotiated the mandate contract, following that the difference of over 17,000 net lei, illegally collected, will be returned by monthly detention from Ghiţă Paraschiv, until the end of the mandate.
Unjustified remuneration for other employees
The irregularities do not stop at the top of the leadership. The audit also identified other employees – directories and heads of compartment – who received salaries over the legal ceiling, although the law requires no remuneration to exceed 80% of the general manager's salary.
Under these conditions, Transurb was obliged to rectify these amounts, starting the recovery of unjustified money.
Table vouchers and gifts, illegally granted
Another problematic chapter in the report is that of the extrasalarial benefits. The auditors found that in December 2023 all 643 employees of the company received a gift voucher of 500 lei, in the context in which Transurb registered losses of over 40 million lei, in which the law prohibits the granting of such bonuses.
Moreover, between April and September 2024, the employees received meal vouchers worth 40 lei/day, given that the legal limit was 35 lei/day. Although the company started recovering the differences, not all employees agreed to return the amounts.
Public purchases with question marks
The Court of Accounts also reported problems regarding the public procurement made by Transurb. Several equipment purchased were not included in the annual procurement program, as provided by the law. Also, in some cases the winners of the contracts did not present evidence regarding the previous experience, and in at least one transurb situation he failed to send the compulsory notification in the SEAP, affecting the transparency of the process.
Inventory not actualized for years
At the same time, the Galati Court of Accounts also discovered that two buses disposed in 2017, but under the seizure of ANAF, are still in the accounting records, the difference of over 176,000 lei is not justified, and Transurb did not take any action until the audit.
According to the calculations of the Court of Accounts, these deviations generated a total loss of over 600,000 lei. Transurb partially started the recovery process, but the report raises serious question marks on how the budget of a company of public interest is managed.
