Problematical construction of the State Treasury
Press Release – January 12, 2009
Auditors from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) performed an audit that focused on financial resources spent from 2003 to 2008 when the Ministry of Finance was constructing the State Treasury. The audit revealed violations of the Public Order Placement Act, the Budgetary Rules, and the Accounting Act.
“The closing account of the state budget chapter Ministry of Finance contained unsatisfactory information on financial resources spent on construction of the State Treasury, which was supported within the frame of the projects co-financed from EU funds. Thus the ministry violated the respective regulation“, said František Dohnal, president of the SAO.
The supporting of the State Treasury’s construction was not transparent. The ministry continued funding the construction from financial resources earmarked for the programme Development and renovation of the material and technical bases of the management system at Ministry of Finance even after the specific programme entitled Development, renovation, and operation of the centrally controlled Information and Communication Technologies of the Ministry of Finance from 2005 to 2010 with its sub-programme Integrated System of the State Treasure had been approved.
“The auditors also revealed that the ministry did not keep the construction schedule of the State Treasury as the Integrated Budgetary System, which should have been put into service by the end of 2007, was not yet in operation in October 2008“, said Dohnal.
The conception of the State Treasury or the system’s functioning have not been specified, in spite the originally intended State Treasury Act should have regulated the whole field of action.
The auditing operation was included into the 2008 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 08/14. Jiří Kalivoda, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and drew up the audit report as well.
Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office