Ministry of the Interior not able to evaluate the effectiveness of support provided to non-profit organizations
Press Release – May 6, 2013
The Supreme Audit Office performed an audit of funds provided by the Ministry of the Interior to non-governmental organizations in the period 2009-2011. Auditors focused on subsidies endowed by the Ministry in the amount of CZK 52.1 million and on endowments in the amount of CZK 32 million received by the beneficiaries. Among the audited projects were projects, which aimed at sport activities, education and human resources development, international activities, asylum-seekers and immigrants, as well as support of the integrated rescue system forces.
The Ministry failed to set criteria for evaluating effectiveness of the support provided to programmes that aimed at sport activities. The Ministry made technical errors when delayed the announcement of unsuccessful applicants. The Ministry did not publish a list of successfully implemented projects and thus violated the rules for providing the support, which had been approved by the Government. The Ministry also failed to keep the binding deadlines and specify the sum of money, which would be provided as support.
The Ministry failed to make beneficiaries keep the pre-set schedules. For example, UNITOP CR1 could not give evidence whether and when reports about their activities in 2009 and 2010 were presented to the Ministry. The report for the year 2011 was presented late.
Auditors also found errors at other beneficiaries. For example, the civic association Counselling Centre for Integration was granted CZK 60,000 for the year 2009 although its grant applications were based on two outdated agreements, which violated the programme rules. The Counselling Centre for Integration was not eligible for the support and the Ministry should not have disbursed the amount.
Some of the found errors are only technical while others - especially with the beneficiaries - may lead to violations of budgetary regulations.
For further details about auditing operation No. 12/22 (in Czech only), see the following link: http://www.nku.cz/assets/media/informace-12-22.pdf (250 kB).
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office
1] UNITOP CR = Union of the Police Sports Clubs in the Czech Republic.