AVF: System of Bonus Payments in Place for 15 years, NKU Hasn't Commented on It

Bratislava, September 27 (TASR) - During previous audits, audit bodies, including the Supreme Audit Office (NKU), never commented on the fact that the remuneration of members of the Audiovisual Fund (AVF) expert committees was paid out of the account for the support of audiovisual culture, AVF director Vladimir Burianek pointed out on Friday in response to an NKU report released earlier in the day that drew attention to a breach of rules in the payment of remuneration to evaluators. "The remuneration of expert commissions members has been paid from the account for the support of audiovisual culture since AVF was set up, that is, for 15 years, because the expert commission members were employed and cooperated only for a limited time," Burianek told TASR, adding that the fund respects the latest observation of the auditors. The Supreme Audit Office (NKU) stated on Friday based on its findings that 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 came to the funds themselves and the Culture Ministry, the monitoring system for use of the allocated funds for the declared projects failed. The NKU's audit further 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 and the Audiovisual Fund. "They were financed from funds earmarked for support activities," said NKU deputy chairman Jaroslav 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. am/df