Audit: Transelectrica Gave 29M Lei in Unjustified Bonuses

Special bonuses and salary increases worth 28,990,440 lei, granted under conditions other than those established by the Collective Labor Agreement and significant deficiencies and delays in the implementation of investment projects, are the conclusions of the compliance audit mission, carried out in 2023-2024 at Transelectrica SA by the Court of Auditors, which decided to notify the criminal prosecution bodies.

“Special bonuses and salary increases worth 28,990,440 lei, granted under conditions other than those established by the Collective Labor Agreement. This is one of the main conclusions resulting from the compliance audit mission, carried out during the period 2023-2024 at CNTEE Transelectrica SA, the objective of which was to verify how the remuneration and granting of other rights to the company’s personnel, as well as the contracting and carrying out of investment contracts, are in accordance with the relevant legislation, norms and regulations that were in force during the period 2020-2022″, announces the Court of Auditors.

Thus, for the audited period, the external public auditors identified:

– special bonuses worth 12,073,272 lei, without providing evidence of the assessment of the individual professional performances of the personnel and without mentioning the actions with major impact carried out by each of the employees in carrying out the activities carried out within the entity;

– salary supplements in the amount of 16,917,168 lei (8,410 lei/employee), without mentioning the purpose of their granting, the legal holiday or the special event, as provided for in the Collective Labor Agreement.

“At the same time, the report reveals significant deficiencies and delays in the implementation of investment projects, with no works contract included in the verified sample being completed within the initial terms provided for in the contract, which has led and may lead, in some cases, to adjustments in the price of contracts as a result of the economic situation in recent years, as well as to the failure to implement investment projects within optimal terms under the conditions of the energy transition”, the Court specifies.

The deficiencies identified in the implementation of investment projects mainly refer to: – the extension of the execution period due to force majeure, given that, during their production, the execution of the contract was not suspended; – failure to calculate late fees for failure to complete the works on time, as well as making payments for goods and services that were not fully executed; – failure to recover advances granted to the contractor, under the conditions in which the contract was terminated by the contractor; – failure to comply with the legal regulations regarding the adjustment of the price of the works contract, by determining the adjustment under conditions other than those legal.

“In order to remedy all the irregularities found, by Letter to Management No. 6001/23.01.2025, the Court of Auditors sent the audited entity recommendations for their remedy, including the establishment and recovery of the damages found, by 30.04.2025. As a result of the irregularities found, by Plenum Decision No. 78/31.01.2025, the Court of Auditors of Romania approved the notification of the competent criminal prosecution bodies in the case of CNTEE Transelectrica SA”. specifies the Court.

“In the context of constant efforts to make the specific activity transparent, by Plenum Decision no. 586/05.06.2025, the Romanian Court of Auditors decided to publish the audit reports containing findings that were the basis for approving the referral to the criminal prosecution bodies,” says Mihai Busuioc, President of the Romanian Court of Auditors.