During Tërmet Peçi’s time as mayor, Tepelenë Municipality sent the Ministry of Finance information that did not reflect reality, reporting internal audits as completed when they had not been finished.
The discrepancy was uncovered by the Supreme State Audit Institution (KLSH). In its audit of the municipality, it found that the local administration had planned eight internal audits but had not completed any of them. The Ministry of Finance, however, had been told that four had been carried out.
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According to documents sent to Tirana between 2023 and 2025, Tepelenë Municipality had audited parts of its administration. In practice, those audits had not been completed.
According to the KLSH report reviewed by Skyweb.al, the audits were supposed to cover some of the municipality’s most important areas, from tax collection and the management of overdue liabilities to public services, rural roads and the operation of administrative units.
These are areas where public money is spent, investment decisions are made and revenue from citizens is managed.
But none of the audits had been completed. When KLSH auditors requested the relevant documentation, the Tepelenë administration was able to provide only a draft report, which was also unfinished.
Despite this, different information had been sent to the Ministry of Finance.
“The audit plan was not carried out: of the 8 audits planned, not one was completed, and no reason for this is given. We note that different information was reported to the Ministry of Finance, namely that 4 audits had been carried out,” KLSH found.
The finding raises serious questions about how Tërmet Peçi’s administration reported its activities to central institutions and how those institutions checked the information they received from municipalities.
It remains unclear whether the relevant departments at the Ministry of Finance verified the information from Tepelenë Municipality or whether the discrepancy was identified only after KLSH intervened.
What makes the situation more serious is that the lack of internal audits was not the only problem.
KLSH found that the department responsible for checking legality and the use of public funds did not have the required number of staff. Moreover, the head of internal audit and one of the specialists lacked the professional certification required to perform their duties.
As a result, high-risk areas, including public tenders, building permits and the services the municipality provides to citizens, had also gone unaudited during 2025.
So, while the Ministry of Finance was being told that audits had been carried out, the mechanism meant to oversee the administration was not functioning properly within the municipality.
KLSH held Tërmet Peçi, as mayor during the period audited, and the head of the internal audit department directly responsible for these shortcomings.
Another detail is that Tepelenë Municipality did not challenge these findings after receiving the KLSH draft report.
The audit also brought to light other problems in the municipality’s administration, including irregularities in tenders, ineffective public investments, uncollected revenue and thousands of public properties that remain unregistered.
It also remains to be clarified what checks the Ministry of Finance carried out after receiving the report and whether anyone was ever held to account for audits that the documents listed as completed but that, according to KLSH, had not been finished. /skyweb.al
