REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
ON THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE CONTROL
Chapter 1
General Provisions
Article 1. The Department of State Control of the Republic
of Lithuania is an agency of control accountable to the Supreme
Council of the Republic of Lithuania, carrying out inspections
regarding the lawful, expedient, and efficient utilization of
state material and financial resources, as well as the protection
of state property.
Article 2. The Department of State Control, at the
recommendation of the State Controller, shall submit its estimate
of expenditures to the Supreme Council of the Republic of
Lithuania for its approval, and then submit it to the Government
for inclusion in the Draft Budget of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 3. The Department of State Control shall act in
accordance with this law, other laws of the Republic of Lithuania
and when exercising control functions shall be governed by other
legislative acts of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 4. Each year the Department of State Control shall
submit a report to the Supreme Council of the Republic of
Lithuania on how state financial and material resources were used
and how state property was protected in the preceding year.
The activity of the Department of State Control and its
estimate of expenditures are under the control of the Supreme
Council of Republic of Lithuania.
Article 5. The Department of State Control shall inform the
Supreme Council of the results of inspections and audits
performed at the behest of the Supreme Council. The Supreme
Council, and the Government, as necessary, must be informed of
the results of inspections that are of general significance or
when urgent actions must be taken in furtherance thereof.
Article 6. The Department of State Control shall make the
results of inspections available to the public, except to the
extent certain data are deemed to be state, technological,
commercial, professional or personal secrets.
Article 7. The Department of State Control, as necessary,
shall act in coordination with the office of the Procurator,
bodies of internal affairs, with other law enforcement bodies,
and with public organizations, but without interfering in their
internal affairs, provided the latter do not violate the law.
Chapter 2
Objectives and Functions of the Department of State Control
Article 9. The Department of State Control shall:
(1) monitor how indices of budget expenditures of the
Republic of Lithuania are being followed; inspect and audit the
fulfillment of the estimate of expenditures of the Managing Board
of the Supreme Council, the Managing Board under the auspices of
the Executive Branch, of the ministries, of government bodies, of
inspectorates and other state institutions, as well as the
financial and economic activities of state enterprises and
organizations regarding the legitimacy, expedience, efficiency,
and accuracy of their accounting and accountability;
(2) monitor the activities of state enterprises under lease
within the limits and in accordance with the procedures
established by their lease agreements, as well as their
compliance with laws governing leases;
(3) monitor the utilization of state capital at state,
state-joint stock and mixed stock companies;
(4) monitor local governments, public organizations and
movements to determine whether allocations from the State Budget
are used efficiently and for the purposes indicated;
(5) monitor loans from the State Budget and other subsidies
to determine whether they are used expediently; check on the
economic health of institutions and organizations whose loans and
other contractual obligations are guaranteed by the government;
(6) monitor how property owned by the state, or managed or
used by the state, is being protected;
(7) monitor the expediency and legitimacy of the utilization
of resources appropriated for state social insurance; and
(8) at the behest of the Supreme Council of the Republic of
Lithuania shall monitor financial and economic activities of
other bodies formed by the Supreme Council.
The Department of State Control shall not monitor the
activity of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, of
the Executive Branch, or of the Bank of Lithuania.
Article 10. The Department of State Control shall supervise
the functioning of the government apparatus, whether it violates
state and financial discipline in carrying on its activities and
whether principles of social justice and legality are being
observed, shall disclose cases of procrastination, bureaucracy
and fraud, and shall submit proposals to improve the government
apparatus and its functioning.
Article 11. The Department of State Control, as necessary,
shall provide methodological assistance to local governments,
state institutions, enterprises, and organizations, as well as to
other agencies of control, by organizing local inspections and
audits.
Chapter 3
Structure and Competence of the Department of State Control
Article 12. The Department of State Control of the Republic
of Lithuania shall consist of a central apparatus and district
divisions.
The Department of State Control shall enjoy the rights of a
legal person.
Article 13. The Department of State Control of the Republic
of Lithuania is established and its internal rules and
regulations are approved by the Supreme Council of the Republic
of Lithuania.
Head of the Department of State Control shall be the State
Controller.
Article 14. The State Controller shall be appointed by the
Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania on the
recommendation of the President of the Supreme Council, for a
term of 7 years.
The State Controller shall:
(1) supervise and direct the Department of State Control and
shall be responsible to the Supreme Council for the overall
functioning of state control and for the observance of legality
in the activities of agencies of state control;
(2) approve the structure and number of employees of the
Department of State Control, as well as the location, structure
and number of employees of district divisions of state control
within the limits of funds appropriated for Department salaries;
(3) approve the rules and regulations of the structural
subdivisions of agencies of state control, as well as their
internal rules and regulations;
(4) monitor the legality of the decisions of chief
controllers, review complaints concerning the actions and
decisions of chief controllers;
(5) organize the work of the Council of State Control and
preside over its sittings;
(6) represent the Department of State Control and ensure
that the Supreme Council is provided, in due course, with
information and accounting pertaining to the activities of the
Department of State Control.
Article 15. The State Controller shall have the right to
take part in meetings held by the Executive Branch of the
Republic of Lithuania, but shall not have the right to vote.
If the State Controller disagrees with a decision adopted by
the Executive Branch, he may voice his own opinion, which must be
recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Branch;
however, such a record shall not have the effect of suspending
the execution of the decision of the Executive Branch. The State
Controller shall inform the Supreme Council of the opinion he has
thus voiced.
Article 16. The State Controller shall adopt decisions and
issue instructions concerning the functioning of the Department.
Article 17. Vice Controllers shall be appointed or removed
from office by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania
on the recommendation of the State Controller.
Article 18. The Department of State Control includes the
Council of State Control, which also includes ex officio the
State Controller, his vice controllers and chief controllers.
As necessary, members of the Executive Branch may be invited
to take part in the sittings of the Council.
Article 19. The Council of State Control shall:
(1) consider drafts of the organizational structure of
agencies of state control and the number of employees thereof,
drafts of estimates of expenditures, and plans for their work and
their accounts;
(2) consider and approve regulations and methods of
conducting inspections and audits;
(3) periodically consider and discuss the results of
inspections and audits and on the basis thereof submit
appropriate proposals and recommendations to the relevant
government bodies;
(4) as necessary, analyze the need for and efficacy of
measures adopted by officials of agencies of state control
against violators, and prepare recommendations on perfecting
their implementation;
(5) approve the qualifications for departmental officers;
(6) consider other issues proposed by the State Controller.
Article 20. The Department of State Control shall be
comprised of divisions and subdivisions, depending on their
spheres of activity and objects under their control. Divisions
performing control functions shall be headed by chief
controllers, which shall be appointed and removed from their
posts by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania on the
recommendation of the State Controller.
Chief controllers shall organize inspections and audits,
which shall be conducted by departmental officers of the
appropriate divisions.
Article 21. The district department of state control shall
be headed by a chief controller who shall be appointed and
removed from his post by the Supreme Council on the
recommendation of the State Controller.
Article 22. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania having
higher education, supervisory experience in the work of the
government apparatus and who have passed qualifying examinations,
can be appointed to the posts of heads of the Department of State
Control and its structural subdivisions. They may hold such
posts up to the age of 65.
Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania having higher
education corresponding to the profile of a given division or
subdivision of State Control, as well as experience in practical
work, can be appointed as departmental officers. Heads and
officers may not engage in any other paid activity, except for
scientific-educational activity.
Chapter 4
The Exercise of State Control and the
Powers of the Department of State Control
Article 23. The Department of State Control shall establish
on its own discretion the terms of inspections and audits, and
their form and scope.
Institutions, enterprises and organizations must provide
officers of state control and specialists who assist them with
all that is required to perform their duties.
Article 24. Ministries, other state bodies, and agencies
shall, in due course, inform the Department of State Control of
all current and new legislative acts regulating accounting,
distribution and utilization of financial and material resources.
Article 25. Inspections and audits must be conducted so as
not to interfere with the normal functioning of those
[enterprises] under inspection.
The officers of state control must not interfere with the
functioning of enterprises, institutions or organizations, and
must not make preliminary assessments or hasty conclusions prior
to the completion of the inspection or audit.
Article 26. For performing inspections and audits, the
Department of State Control has the right to employ specialists
of other institutions, enterprises or organizations, and in
accordance with proper procedures to pay them for their work.
Article 27. While exercising their functions the officers of
state control shall have the right to:
(1) compel submission of initial documents, balances and
accounts, estimates, contracts, orders, directives and other
documents revealing economic and financial activity;
(2) freely enter warehouses, storage areas, industrial units
and other entities, to locate all material valuables and cash and
securities;
(3) obtain from heads of institutions and organizations and
from other employees verbal or written explanations, bills of
lading and other documents of entitlement, copies of documents on
issues concerning inspections and audits;
(4) remove documents and to attach them to the official
audit papers, to seal documents, and to seal places for securing
money and other material valuables;
(5) compel special measurements and special tests for work
done; and
(6) in cases provided by law, and in accordance with
procedures established by law, obtain from the Bank of Lithuania,
from credit and commercial banks, and from institutions and
organizations relevant data, bills of lading and other documents
of entitlement, as well as copies of documents regarding
financial and other operations pertaining to the object under
inspection.
Article 28. Employees whose activity is being inspected must
be present when material valuables and money in their custody are
being checked, and they have the right to familiarize themselves
with the documents asserting shortcomings in their work, and to
provide explanations and additional documents, which shall be
appended to the inspection material.
Article 29. The Department of State Control, upon agreement
with government bodies or local governments, may delegate to them
the right to inspect the objects under its control.
Article 30. The Department of State Control, upon agreement
with government bodies of other countries, as well as
international monitoring organizations, may arrange to transfer
or assume on their own account the duty to conduct inspections
and audits.
Article 31. Upon performance of an inspection or audit,
official audit papers shall be drawn up, and the controller who
signs it shall be fully responsible for its contents. Heads of
enterprises, institutions and organizations that are being
inspected must be informed of the results of the inspection or
audit, and when there is a determination that the law has been
violated, the relevant agencies or financial bodies must also be
informed.
If during an inspection signs of a crime are uncovered, the
Department of State Control must submit the relevant
incriminating material to the agencies of law enforcement.
The Department of State Control must be informed within a
month of the measures adopted to compensate for material losses
or to eliminate the violations of law uncovered during such
inspection.
Article 32. The State Controller, his vice controllers, and
chief:
(1) point out to departmental officers their shortcomings,
to warn them and to require that they eliminate any uncovered
violations;
(2) put questions to the heads of enterprises, institutions
and organizations concerning the removal of directives issued by
the executives violating legitimate interests of enterprises,
institutions and organizations as well as the rights of its
employees, to suspend the illegitimate directives and actions of
executives if they impair the interests of the State or the
rights of its citizens;
(3) impose fines upon the executives equal to the damage
caused to the State but not exceeding the sum total of three
average monthly salaries;
(4) remove from posts employees of governmental institutions
and enterprises who have severely violated the laws of the
Republic of Lithuania, incurred damage to the State and its
citizens.
Administrative measures shall be adopted against the
executives who do not permit the state controllers to inspect
enterprises, institutions and organizations, do not submit
relevant documents or conceal them as well as present false
information.
Article 33. The officers of the state control agencies are
accountable for the performance of their duties according to the
procedure as is established for the employees of governmental
bodies.
An appeal against the decisions of chief controllers may be
filed with the State Controller whereas an appeal against the
decisions of the State Controller and his vice controllers may be
addressed to the court.
Bronius Kuzmickas
Vice President
Supreme Council
Republic of Lithuania
Vilnius
31 May 1990
No.1-258