In Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, the Chamber of Accounts (or Court of Accounts or Court of Auditors or Audit Court, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: Cour des Comptes

Cour des Comptes

The Court of Audit is a quasi-judicial body of the French government charged with conducting financial and legislative audits of most public institutions and some private institutions, including the central Government, national public corporations, social security agencies , and public services...

 , Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο) is both an administrative organ (one of the three Big Bodies of the Greek Public Administration) and a Supreme Administrative Court with a special jurisdiction (while the jurisdiction of the Council of State

Council of State (Greece)

In Greece, the Council of State is the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece.-Organization:...

 is general). Hence, its role is double-natured.

The Chamber of Accounts has a(n):

• advisory (consultative),
• auditing and
• judicial

competence.

History

The Chamber of Accounts was created just after the independence of Greece

Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

 in 1833. It was established based on the French Cour des Comptes

Cour des Comptes

The Court of Audit is a quasi-judicial body of the French government charged with conducting financial and legislative audits of most public institutions and some private institutions, including the central Government, national public corporations, social security agencies , and public services...

 model. It is seated in a modern building in the centre of Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

.

Organisation

The Chamber of Accounts comprises:

• the President,
• 5 Vice-presidents,
• 20 Councillors,
• 40 Assistant Judges and
• 50 Reporting Judges.

They all have the status of a judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

, according to the Constitution

Constitution of Greece

The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...

. In the posts of the Reporting Judges are appointed only graduates of the National School of Judges. The President and the Vice-presidents of the Chamber are chosen among its members by the Cabinet

Cabinet of Greece

The cabinet of Greece , officially called the Ministerial Council , constitutes the Government of Greece. It is the collective decision-making body of the Hellenic Republic, composed of the Prime Minister and the Ministers...

Advisory (consultative) competence

The advisory (consultative) competence of the Chamber is exerted by:

• Consultory responses, attached to all bills, which regulate the bestowal of pensions by the State. This competence of the Chamber may be expanded to more issues with a legislative provision.
• Consultory responses on various issues, when demanded by the ministers.

Auditing competence

This competence of the Chamber includes:

• The submission by the Chamber to the Parliament
  Hellenic Parliament
  The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
  
   of the annual Report about the Balance of the State.
• The audit of any expenditure of the State or of the public entities.
• The supervision of all the civil servants, who are liable to render accounts.
• The observation of the public revenues.
• The audit and the control of the legality of the procedure of all public procurements and works, whose the value surpasses a certain amount of money.

Jurisdiction

The Chamber operates as a Supreme Administrative Court, whose the judicial decisions are final and irrevocable, when it judges in a Plenary Session the following cases:

• Disputes about the audit of the civil servants, who are liable to render accounts.
• Litigation arising from acts bestowing pensions, except for the pensions of the judges, according to a provision of the Constitution
  Constitution of Greece
  The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...
  
  , reviewed in the constitutional amendment of 2001,
• Disputes about the liability of all the civil servants for any damage they caused to the State or to any public entity by fraud or gross negligence.

Procedure

The litigant or the competent minister may exert in the Chamber the following legal remedies:

• appeal against personal administrative acts, including acts of auditing groups of the Chamber.
• writ of error against decisions of the Dempartments of the Chamber, judged by the Plenary Session.
• writ of revision, exerted for certain specific reasons and judged by the Plenary Session.