NKÚ: Culture poorly monitored its investments, which became more expensive

Prague - According to the Supreme Audit Office, the Ministry of Culture inadequately monitored its investment projects. As a result, they became more expensive and took longer than planned. The Supreme Audit Office audited projects of the ministry itself and several organizations receiving grants from it for the years 2002 to 2006. The audit involved grants amounting to 1.26 billion crowns and revealed a number of shortcomings, as stated in the press release from the Supreme Audit Office, which was obtained by ČTK today.
    The aim of the audit was to verify the management of state budget funds provided for the Investment Property Reproduction Program under the Ministry of Culture. The office identified shortcomings primarily with the ministry as the program's administrator, but also with the recipients of the grants.
    For example, according to the Supreme Audit Office, the ministry did not process the program's documentation and thus failed to establish its substantive objectives, the necessity of financing from the state budget, or its technical-economic, time, and financial parameters. "It also did not set any criteria and principles for including projects in the program or for selecting projects for implementation. Thus, it did not create sufficient conditions for assessing the efficiency and economy of spending from the state budget," stated the president of the Supreme Audit Office, František Dohnal.
    The ministry approved projects with incomplete project documentation or incomplete investment plans without any objections. This led to the investment projects becoming more expensive and taking longer. For instance, during the reconstruction and extension of the City Theatre in Brno, the grant increased by more than 144 million crowns in 2003 and 2004 as the scope of the work was expanded.
    The seriousness of the audit findings is even greater according to the Supreme Audit Office, as this program had already been audited in the past - in 1999. At that time, the office revealed deficiencies particularly in the preparation of projects, in the awarding of public contracts, and in the insufficient management and control activities of the Ministry of Culture. "The identified deficiencies indicate that the measures taken were not sufficiently effective," noted Dohnal.
    The organizations audited now included, in addition to the ministry, the city of Valašské Meziříčí, the City Theatre Brno, the Moravian Museum, the Museum of Art Olomouc, the National Museum, the National Heritage Institute, the Study and Research Library in Hradec Králové, and the East Bohemian Museum in Pardubice.