The Malta-based European Asylum Support Office is the sole EU agency to not get a clean bill of health from the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
This was also the case in November.
In June, José Carreira , EASO's executive director stepped down amid accusations of bullying and “psychological violence” as well as an investigation by Olaf.
The ECA said in a statement that it had signed off the 2017 accounts of all 41 EU agencies and issued clean opinions on the revenues underlying their accounts.
But as regarded the underlying payments, EASO was the only agency not getting a clean opinion with a number of issues being identified.
Auditors drew attention to critical staffing situation at the Marsa-based agency, which they said had deteriorated exponentially and posed a significant risk to the operations of the office.
They noted that EASO payments systematically breached regulations and reflected inadequate internal controls, mainly in relation to public procurement and recruitment procedures.
EASO was created in 2011 to strengthen EU member state cooperation on asylum issues, enhance the implementation of the Common European Asylum System, and support Member States under particular pressure.
Read: Malta-based European Asylum Support Agency in disarray
Outcomes were more positive for other EU agencies. Auditors noted that the number of observations on the legality and regularity of payments had decreased, illustrating the agencies’ continued efforts to comply with the legal framework, particularly financial and staff regulations.
For 14 of the agencies, auditors identified weaknesses in the management of some public procurement procedures, questioning whether they delivered best value for money.
The ECA also discussed the implications of the two London-based agencies, the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, leaving the UK in 2019.
EASO expands office space at its Malta headquarters
Meanwhile, EASO said in a statement it signed a lease agreement with the Maltese authorities which will see its office space more than triple in size.
Once completed, the new office space, formerly occupied by Transport Malta, would allow EASO to better-accommodate the current and planned increase in activities supporting the Common European Asylum System, it said.
The new lease agreement is valid for nine years and extendable thereafter, and will see the floor space of EASO’s headquarters increase significantly from the original 3,730 square metres to 12,300 square metres. The agency will now occupy all three blocks of the compound at Grand Harbour.
EASO said the expansion came in the middle of a recruitment process that was expected to continue in the next two years. The increase in human resources would see staffing rise from approximately 220 current employees to around 500 by the end of 2020.