Access to Information Programme | Court cases

Access to audit reports

Yurii Ivanov v. the State Internal Financial Control Agency (SIFCA)
Court case № 1902/2003 of Sofia City Court, Administrative panel III-A

On March 2001, Yuri Ivanov, director of a Citizen Watch organization in Sliven, filed an information request to the State Internal Financial Control Agency in Sliven. Mr. Ivanov requested copies of two audit reports of the Sliven Techical College and the Faculty of Pedagogical Engineering in Sofia Technical university. The director of SIFCA, Sliven forwarded the request to the Head of the Agency in Sofia, who issued a decision to withhod information using the administrative secret exemption. AIP assisted the requestor in preparing and filing an appeal against the refusal before the Sofia City Court. The Sofia City Court turned down the appeal, but in November 2002 the Supreme Administrative Court reversed both the decision of SCC and the refusal of the Director of SIFCA, Sofia and returned the file for a new decision.

In a letter from March 2003 the director of SIFCA again refused to disclose the requested information, because it concerned and was likely to harm the interests of the two audited institution and no consent for disclosure of the audit reports had been received by them. Access to Information Programme prepared an appeal against this subsequent refusal and as a result the Sofia City Court will review administrative court case № 1902/2003 in a hearing on March 04, 2004.