NKU: Public-service Funds and Ministry Failed to Monitor Use of Subsidies

Bratislava, September 27 (TASR) - No serious mistakes were made in the process of making decisions on allocating money from public funds to support culture between 2021-2023, but when it comes to the funds themselves and the Culture Ministry, the monitoring system for use of the allocated funds for the declared projects failed, the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) stated on Friday based on its findings. "When deciding on the allocation of money from funds for culture, the auditors didn't reveal any serious violations of decision-making procedures. The processes for announcing calls and accepting applications were transparent, and the criteria for assessing calls had clear rules," stated NKU deputy chairman Jaroslav Ivanco. According to him, the audit showed that rules were violated especially when it came to the payment of remuneration and compensation to members of expert commissions at the Art Support Fund (FPU) and the Audiovisual Fund (AVF). "They were financed from funds earmarked for support activities," explained Ivanco, adding that in the audited period, nearly €420,000 was paid to members of expert commissions at FPU and more than €489,00 to those at AVF. "In the Minority Culture Support Fund, the remuneration and compensation of grant and scholarship evaluators were budgeted and paid correctly from the funds earmarked for operational activities, the amount reached a level of €133,000," added the NKU deputy chair. Ivanco went on to say that monitoring of how the allocations were dealt with was problematic. "The audit authority didn't receive assurances via audits that the fund institutions at the Culture Ministry were able to verify and did verify to a reasonable level the extent to which the public funds distributed were used in relation to the stated purpose and whether the recipients of the funds acted as they committed themselves contractually to the fund," he said. The audit office found that FPU and the Minority Culture Support Fund carried out administrative financial checks with a significant time lag of approximately four years from the submission of accounts, or didn't carry out mandatory audits at all. "FPU didn't carry out checks for more than 12,800 submitted statements, which concerns every second supported project, and the Minority Culture Support Fund didn't fulfil its obligation in two-thirds of cases," added Ivanco. Even monitoring and financial checks carried out directly at the beneficiaries were only done so in exceptional cases. Insufficient financial and administrative checks were also found in the case of the Culture Ministry. "In the audited period, the ministry carried out an audit only in one case, namely at FPU in 2021, and this audit was done based on NKU's initiative," stated the NKU deputy chair. am/df