Greece

CONSTITUTION

1. The competence of the Court of Audit pertains mainly to:

a) The audit of expenditures of the State and of Local Agencies or other Public Entities subject to its audit by special laws,

b) auditing contracts of high financial value, in which the State, or any other Legal Entity, equalized to the State may constitute one of the contracting parties, as specified by law,

c) the audit of the accounts of accounting officers and of the Local Government Agencies or other Public Entities specified in subparagraph (a),

d) providing an expert opinion upon laws on pensions or on the acknowledgement of service for granting of the right to a pension, in accordance with article 73, par. 2¹ and on all other matters specified by law,

e) the presentation to the Parliament of the Report on the Annual Financial Statement and the Balance Sheet of the State, in accordance with article 79, par. 7²,

f) the trial of legal remedies on disputes arising from pension grants and from the audit of accounts specified in subparagraph (c) and

g) the trial of cases related to the liability of civil or military public servants, as well as Local Government Agencies' and other Public Entities' employees for damage caused to the State, the Local Agencies, or the Public Entities, due to fraud or gross negligence.

2. The competences of the Court of Audit shall be regulated and carried out as specified by law (...).

3. The decisions of the Court of Audit in the cases specified in paragraph 1 shall not be subject to the control of the Council of State.

Bills pertaining in any way to the granting of pension and the requisites thereof shall be submitted only by the Minister of Finance, after consulting with the Court of Audit; in the case of pensions chargeable to the budget of Local Government Agencies or other Public Corporate Bodies, relevant bills shall be submitted by the competent Minister and the Minister of Finance. [...].

The Annual Financial Statement and Balance Sheet of the State, which is compulsorily accompanied by a relevant report, issued by the Court of Audit and provided for in article 98, par. 1 (e), is submitted before the Parliament no later than one year after the expiration of the current financial year (...).

ORGANISATION LAW
(Presidential Decree 774/1980)

The Court of Audit, independent from any other authority, is supervised by the Minister of Justice, just like the other courts.

1. The members of the Court of Audit consist of:

a. one (1) President,

b. six (6) Vice Presidents,

c. twenty-four (24) Judge Councellors,

d. forty (40) Second Rank Judges and

e. eighty-five (85) Junior Judges.

2. A General Commissioner, a Commissioner and three (3) Vice Commissioners are appointed to represent the State within the Court of Audit.

In carrying out its work, the Court of Audit is assisted by judicial personnel.

1. The Court of Audit carries out the duties it was assigned through its Plenum, or its Judicial Sections and Climakions, provided that there is no different provision in this, or any other Decree, issued by virtue of special authorisations.

2. The Court’s Plenary Session consists of the President, or his legal deputy and at least eight of its members having the capacity of Vice President or Judge Counsellor.

3. Every Judicial Section consists of a Vice President or his legal deputy, presiding over it, and at least four Judge Counsellors, as Members. Nevertheless, the President of the Court may preside over any Judicial Section.

Second-Rank Judges may also participate in the sessions of the Judicial Sections, having the right only to a consultative vote.

The Second-Rank Judges participating in sessions of the Judicial Sections may be partially or totally exempted from their duties, following a decision of the Plenary Session.

4. Every Climkion is constituted by a Judge Counsellor, presiding over it, and two Second-Rank Judges, as Members.

The Second-Rank Judges are appointed from a list, elaborated following a decision of the Plenary Session, which is published in the State Gazette.

5. There are six Judicial Sections. The number of the Climkions is determined, following a decision issued by the Plenary Session, published in the State Gazette. The competence of each Judicial Section or Climakion is determined in the same way, which is also used for the necessary increase of the number of Judicial Sections.

6. The President of the Court, by means of an act published in the State Gazette, appoints, at the beginning of each judicial year, those presiding over and participating in the Judicial Sections and Climakions. By means of a similar act, and within the year concerned, the synthesis of Judicial Sections may be changed, due to the relevant need of the Service.

[…]

The General Commissioner of the State and the Plenary Secretary, or their legal deputies attend the sessions of the Plenary Session and the Judicial Sections. However, only the Plenary Secretary, or his legal deputy, attend the sessions of the Climakions.

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1. The court of Audit decides by the majority of those present; in case of equality in votes, the Vice President’s vote predominates.

If more than two opinions are formulated during the vote, those expressing a sole or the weakest opinion should agree with one of the most prevalent opinions.

The members of the court present during the discussion of a specific case contribute to the issuing of the relevant decision. In case of an impediment occurred to one of the aforementioned members, the others may issue the decision, if their number is sufficient to constitute the Plenum, or the Judicial Section otherwise, the case is brought again before the judicial formation, to be discussed.

2. A decision issued by the Court’s Plenary Session and published in the State Gazette may provide that the decisions issued by the Plenary Session and the Judicial Sections may be signed only by the President, the Plenary Secretary and the Judge Counsellor or the Second-Rank Judge acting as rapporteur; the latter is also responsible for its accurate formulation and copying.

The Court of Audit:

1. audits the State expenditure, in accordance with the article 98 of the Constitution, as well as the expenditure of Local government Agencies or other Public Corporate Bodies, submitted to its audit competence, according to the law (a priori audit),

2. carries out an a posteriori audit upon; (a) the accounts of the Public Accounting Officers, the Local Government Agencies and other Public Corporate Bodies, self administered Organization, as well as any other Public Service, which is not organized as a Legal Person itself, but functions as if it were decentralised from the State budget, either under self administration, or as a special account, (b) the off-budget account established by the article 26, par, 1 of the Law 992/1979, under the title of "Special Account of Agricultural Products Guarantee: and (c) expenditures of any nature, being subject to it’s a posteriori audit, in accordance with the article 28, par. 2 of the Law 992/1979, realised by natural or legal persons and deriving from European Community funds,

3. monitor State revenues,

4. decides on the annual Financial Statement and the balance sheet of the State.

5. supervises the Public Accounting Officers, on the basis of Financial Accountancy.

6. supervises the Public Accounting Officers’ guarantees, in accordance with the existing legislation,

7. decides on the discharge of accounting officers reporting before it from the responsibility for any loss, lack or damage of funds, materials or payment documents of any nature.

8. tries legal remedies against acts or omissions of the Minister of finance, when exercising his competence to execute acts or decisions of pension regulation affecting the State Budget or the payment of pensions in general, including those pertaining to the imputation of a pension illegally paid,

9. gives its expert opinion, according to the article 73,l par.2 of the Constitution, upon draft laws pertaining to the amendment of pension legislation, pension granting, or acknowledging service for granting the right to a pension, since this pension is affecting the State Treasury or the Public corporate Bodies’ Budget.

10. gives its opinion, provided that this does not affect its acts or its decisions to be issued on a case,

11. tries cases concerning the civil liability of: (a) Public Servants for damage caused to the State through fraud or gross negligence, (b) Servants of Public Corporate Bodies, according to the Law Decree 496/1974 and (c) Servants of Local Government Agencies.

12. tries the objections arising during the audit of the Accounting officers’ accounts.

13. tries the appeals against acts of imputation issued by the Ministers or other authorised administrative bodies, collective or not, concerning the management of funds or material of the State, which, according to the existing legislation, are subject to its competence,

14. tries the appeals: (a) against acts of the Court’s Climakion, (b) against acts of pension regulation issued by the Pension Service of the Ministry of Finance (State’s General Accounting office), (c) against the decisions of the Committee controlling acts provided by the article 1 of the Emergency Law 599/1968 and (d) against acts of the Committee provided by the article 4 of the aforementioned Emergency Law,

15. tries appeals against imputation acts, issued by the Prefects, according to the article 58 of the Law Decree 3033/1954.

16. tries the applications for assessing a Municipality or a community and

17. carries out duties allocated to it, in accordance with other laws.

1. The Court of Audit is entitled to require from the Ministries and any other authority any information or data useful for the performance of its duties.

2. The Court communicates to the Ministers every violation of a legal or any other provision ascertained during the performance of its duties.

1. The Court of Audit

a) may be notified by the competent Second-Rank Judges or commissioners of the obligations undertaken and affecting the credits of the State Budget by means of the books kept by the Services competent for clearing and authorizing the payment of an expenditure.

b) Audits the State expenditure, according to the article 98 of the Constitution, as well as the expenditures of Local government Agencies and Public Corporate Bodies submitted to its audit competence, according to specific laws, in order to assure that a legally granted appropriation for the expenditure in question actually exists and that these expenditures were carried out according to the provisions of the Code "upon Public Accountancy". Or any other law, decree, or regulatory decision.

2. The Court of Audit verifies the accounts submitted to it, according to the provisions of this Decree, lays down the necessary amendments, according to its audit results, and issues the relevant sheets of debit or credit of the accounting officers.

3. Examining issues arising incidentally in the course of the audit work is allowed to the Court, without prejudice to the provisions concerning the res judicata.

4. The audit conducted according to the provisions of this Presidential Decree may be carried out on a sampling basis, according to what is defined in the Court’s decisions. If suspicions of irregular management arise, this audit is extended to the whole management.

5. Auditing the purpose of the administrative acts does not constitute part of the Court’s auditing competence.

6. Where queries concerning the substantial part of the expenditure are expressed by the Second-Rank Judge or the Commissioner the payment order is given approval; at the same time, the case is referred to the competent Judicial Section of the Court, which, after having conducted its own evaluation, announces it to the Minister of finance and any Minister competent for the case in question.

7. The Court of Audit, after having conducted its own evaluation, mentions these cases in the report it addresses to the parliament.

8. While auditing the accounting officers’ accounts the Climakion may examine the substantial part of an expenditure; if any queries arise, the Climakion decides on the correctness of the accounts and notifies the Minister of Finance and the competent Minister of the case in question.

[...]

1. The a priori audit of payment orders for the expenditures of Ministries, as well as the Commissionary payment orders, by which credits are transferred to the Ministers’, Commissioners, according to the provisions of the Code "upon Public Accountancy", is carried out by Second-Rank Judges of the Court of Audit sitting in the head office of the ministries.

The a priori audit of payment orders for the expenditures of Ministries transferred to the Ministers’ Commissioners (Secondary Initiators) is conducted by commissioners of the Court of Audit, sitting in the Ministers’ commissioners’ head office, provided that, according to the in force, there is no Second-Rank Judge sitting in this head office.

2. In accordance with the provisions in force, the aforementioned Second-Rank Judges and commissioners of the Court of Audit conduct an a priori audit upon the expenditures realised by the Prefects, being assigned the capacity of Primary Initiator, according to the article 1 of the Law Decree 1337/1973, as well as by the Public Corporate Bodies and the Local Government Agencies, in accordance with the article 18 of the Law Decree 1265/1972.

[...]

4. The assignment of the a priori audit to bodies other than the said is prohibited. The adequate auxiliary personnel, consisting of employees of the Court may be appointed to assist the Second-Rank Judges and the Commissioners carrying out the a priori audit.

[...]

The Second-Rank Judges and the Commissioners of the Court of Audit, as well as the Services, which they head, are subject to an inspection carried out by the President of the Court, or by Vice Presidents or Second-Rank Judges appointed by him to this end, or even by Second-Rank Judges in the case of Commissioners concerning the function of the Service in question and the way in which employees exercise their duties.

1. If the audit conducted leads to the conclusion that the provisions of the article 17. Par. 1. Section (b). or even is to be realized, the competent Second-Rank judge or Commissioner refuses to certify the relevant payment order and returns it to the authority that sent it, together with a copy of his report, outlining the grounds for refusal.

When the payment order is resubmitted to be certified, the Second-Rank Judge or the Commissioner either certifies it, if he considers that the grounds for refusal do not exist anymore, or forwards it to the Court’s competent Judicial Section, together with a report outlining the case. The Judicial Section decides, by an act, either that the payment order should be certified, decision to which the Second-Rank Judge or the commissioner should conform, by proceeding accordingly, or that the payment order should not be certified.

The Court’s competent Judicial Section, when undertaking the aforementioned case, may refer it to the Plenary Session, due to its major importance, or to its more general significance, by means of minutes, being used instead of a proposal, which is presented before this supreme judicial body by the rapporteur entrusted with this task.

The Plenary Session, having issued an opinion upon the case referred to it, sends it back to the competent Judicial Section, for further examination. This opinion is obligatory for the Judicial Section.

2. In case of non certification of a payment order, the competent Minister may request this, on his responsibility. This should be accepted by the Court, which gives relevant instructions to the competent Second-Rank Judge or Commissioner.

When the payment order is certified on the competent Minister’s responsibility, a document including the Court’s grounds for non certifying the order is submitted on the same day by the General Commissioner of the State to the Minister of finance, the Cabinet and the Parliament. In case the Parliament does not approve the certification of the order in question, the Court, by means of an act of its Plenum, charges the responsible Minister with the amount of the order.

3. Where a criminal offence is identified in the course of a priori audit work, the case is reported to Minister of Finance and the competent initiator and is taken up by the competent Public Prosecutor.

4. In case of queries concerning the certification or not of payment orders, the opinion of the Court’s competent Judicial Section may be requested in advance, by means of the competent Second-Rank Judge or the Commissioner’s report.

[...]

1. The Public Accounting officers’ accounts and the Local Government Agencies’ and remaining Public Corporate Bodies’ annual financial statement, upon which, according to the existing legislation, an a posteriori audit is carried out, as well as the expenditures of any Public Service that does not constitute a Public Corporate Body itself, but functions as an entity decentralized from the State Budget, either under self administration or as a special account, are audited by the Climakion of the Court of Audit, from 1st January,1980 and hence.

[...]

3. During its audit work upon the accounting officers’ accounts, the Court of Audit may require any necessary information from the competent public services, the accounting officers and any natural or legal person. It may also carry out an investigation on-the-spot, if the need should arise.

4. A sheet of changes and deficiencies is issued for the eventual lacks ascertained or queries arisen during the audit of the accounts and is properly communicated, so that these lacks may be completed and information required may be provided. The deadline for this purpose may not exceed the period of a fortnight, but may also be extended for a reasonable period.

[...]

6. In case of queries upon issues arising during the audit of the accounts, the competent Head of Direction may submit a report to the competent Climakion, asking for its opinion upon these issues.

The President of the Court may require the expert opinion of the Plenary Session, if he considers this to be necessary, due to important or most general character of the specific issue. This opinion should be taken into account by both the Climakions and the Judicial Sections, while issuing their relevant acts and decisions.

7.  Where a criminal offence is identified during the audit of the accounts, the case is announced to the competent Public Prosecutor, the Minister, or any other body, supervising the specific Accounting Officer and the President of the court of Audit.

The auditing services, the services of financial inspection, and other services carrying out a regular management audit, according to the existing legislation, submit all relevant documents, together with their audit findings to the Court of Audit, after concluding the audit they have carried out.

The competent Direction, or the competent Second-Rank Judge or Commissioner of the Court of Audit, after having evaluated the audit work and findings, may repeat the audit, if they consider this to be necessary.

The civil and military accounting officers, as well as the Clearing Accounting officer should submit their accounts for the previous month directly to the Court of Audit, until the 20^th of the current month.

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1. The audit carried out, according to the aforementioned provisions, upon the accounting officers’ and the Clearing Accounting Officer’s accounts is completed with the audit of their annual accounts, after the conclusion of which the court of Audit pronounces its decision upon the accounting officer’s whole management, according to the article 27 of this Decree.

2. The Public Accounting Officers are public servants, authorized to collect State revenues and proceed to the payment of State-expenditures. This term does not at all include anyone handling money, values or material belonging to the State, in any way, even without authorization, as well as anyone else considered by law to be an accounting officer.

3. The Public Accounting Officers’ responsibility before the Court of Audit also covers the accurate collection of the ascertained public revenues, provided that the do not account for this before any other authority.

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1. If the deadlines mentioned in the previous articles are not met, the Court of Audit is entitled to impose a financial penalty to the accounting officer, which may reach the amount of his monthly salary; it also calls upon him to submit his accounts within a deadline not exceeding a fortnight from the date of the specific notification.

[...]

3. The Court of Audit is entitled to impose the same aforementioned sanction to anyone accounting before it, for any infringement of the law, related to the audit carried out by it or for non compliance to orders concerning the audit of his management.

4. A review of the Court’s acts, by which sanctions are imposed, is allowed only once, following a relevant writ of error on behalf of the interested party, within six months from the date of their notification.

[...]

1. Every year, or upon the expiration of their accounting period, people handling material of the Public sector are to account for their administration within a two-month deadline, which may be extended by the Court of Audit for a reasonable period.

2. The provisions of the articles 22 and 24 –27 are also applied correspondingly in this case.

3. The Court of Audit may proceed to the ascertainment of the materials stored in the warehouses at the end of the accounting period or whenever considered necessary.

4. Those handling materials of the Armed and the Public Security Forces also submit the accounts of their management, in order to be audited, according to what is specified by the Plenary Session of the Court of Audit, following a proposal by the competent Direction.

[...]

1. The Court of Audit supervises the Public Accounting officers as to the Public Accountancy and is entitled to proceed to the assignment of their inspection, whenever considered necessary, to its employees, or to ask the officers of the State’s General Accounting office Units to do so.

2. Every Service receiving an audit report upon a administration of a Local Government agency or a Public Corporate Body is to forward promptly the aforementioned report to the Court of Audit.

3. Every Public Service is obliged to announce promptly to the Court of Audit the name, capacity and object of management of every Public Accounting Officer, being under its supervision.

[...]

1. The audit of public management is completed by auditing the State’s annual financial Statement and Balance sheet.

To this end, the annual financial statement and the balance sheet of the specific management, signed by the Head of the competent Direction and General Direction of the State’s General Accounting office and authorized by the Minister of Finance, are sent each year by the latter to the Court of Audit no later than the end of September.

2. The Court of Audit examines the State’s Annual Financial Statement and Balance Sheet, based upon the existing legislation and according to what is decided by its Plenary Session, by comparing them to the relevant data, as well as to the books kept by the State’s General Accounting office. Afterwards, the aforementioned settlements are sent back to the State’s General Accounting office, together with the corresponding declarations, within one month from the date of receival.

3. The declarations are issued by the Plenary Session of the Court of Audit.

1. The Court of audit is to present each year the result of its operations, together with its observations, stemming from the reconciliation of revenues and expenditures with the relevant laws and from exercising its duties in general, as well as its thoughts on improvements and reforms, by means of an annual report addressed to the Parliament, which is handed over to its President by the President of the Court of Audit.

2. The report is published in the State Gazette.

1. The Court of Audit decides upon the discharge of the Public Accounting officers, accounting before it, from any loss, lack or damage of money, materials or documents and vouchers of any payment, following a petition submitted by the accounting officer, or ipso jure, by means of an act, either during the audit of the accounts and by means of the act issued upon them, or even before the undertaken audit, by means of a special act.

The accounting officer requesting the discharge is obliged to prove that, although the loss, lack damage etc. has occurred, he takes up no responsibility for that, since he has complied and will show the adequate attention to what has been regulated.

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ANNEX

AMENDMENT TO THE PROVISIONS HEREBY STATED

Compilation of the Court's Judicial Formations (article 7)

Law 1968/1991, article 2, par, 1

The article 7, par, 2 of the Presidential Decree 774/1980[...] is replaced as follows:

"The court’s Plenary Session consists of the President, the vice Presidents and the Judge Counsellors. Half of its members plus one, including the President, or his legal deputy, should be present, in order to achieve a quorum. The number of members is maintained odd, with the retirement of the youngest among the Judge Counsellors, of, if he acts as repporteur to the case tried, his immediate senior."

Law 2298/1995, article 13, par. 1 & 2

1. The article 7, par. 3 of the President Decree 774/1980 is replaced as follows:

" Every Judicial Section consists of a Vice-President, or his legal deputy, presiding over it, two Judge Counsellors, two Second-Rank Judges and the Secretary. The President of the Court may preside over any Judicial Section as well, Second-Rank Judges participate in the sessions of the Judicial Sections, having the right only to a consultative vote. The Second-Rank Judges participating in sessions of the Judicial Sections may be partially or totally exempted from their duties, following a decision of the Plenary Session."

2. The article 7, par. 4, subparagraph (a) of the Presidential Decree 774/1980 is replaced as follows:

"Every three-member Climakion consists of a Judge Counsellor, or his legal deputy, presiding over it, two Second-Rank Judges and the Secretary. One of the two Second-Rank Judges may be replaced by a Junior Judge, or a Junior Judge on probation. Second-Rank Judges, Junior Judges and Junior Judges on probation participate in the sessions of the Climakions, having the right to a decisive vote."