Misuse of funds: the Accounting Chamber claims that more than UAH 650 million from the COVID-19 fund was spent on culture
Kyiv • UNN
The Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution to allocate UAH 777.8 million from the Anti-Covid Fund in 6 areas, 5 of which amount to UAH 743.4 million are illegal, as they do not relate to measures to prevent the disease and combat its consequences.
In 2020, the Government allocated more than UAH 743 million from the COVID-19 fund to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine in violation of the law. As a result, the Ministry used more than 659 million for other purposes. This was reported by the Accounting Chamber, according to UNN.
The audit showed an unsatisfactory process of preparation by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and governmental decision-making on the allocation of funds from the COVID-19 fund, and most importantly, an almost complete inconsistency of the content of the relevant documents with the norms of the law on the state budget for 2020 and the procedure for using these funds, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of April 22, 2020,
Details
It was established that in June 2020, the Ministry appealed to the Government to allocate UAH 1.9 billion in 11 areas. In turn, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution to allocate UAH 777.8 million from the COVID fund in 6 areas, 5 of which, amounting to UAH 743.4 million, are illegal, as they do not relate to measures to prevent the disease and combat its consequences. In fact, most of the directions provide financial support for culture, tourism and creative industries.
In addition, the above-mentioned funds should not have been allocated to the ICIP at all, due to the Ministry's lack of detailed and reliable financial and economic calculations of the need for budgetary funds.
As a result, the ICIP used almost UAH 60 million for activities not related to the fight against COVID-19, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation received more than UAH 518 million in institutional support, and another ministry-controlled institution, the Ukrainian Book Institute, received more than UAH 81 million.
The Prosecutor General's Office and the National Police of Ukraine have already been informed of the audit results.
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