The Ministry of Health paid CZK 3.2 million for an unimplemented project’s preparations and termination
PRESS RELEASE on Audit No. 13/31 – June 16, 2014
The Supreme Audit Office (SAO) performed an audit of the Ministry of Health and its management within the period 2010–2013. Auditors scrutinized the Ministry’s management of assets, expenses in the amount of CZK 521 million, and costs of ICT technologies, travel expenses, gift and representation costs, and expenses on advisory, legal, and consultancy services.
In 2010, the Ministry of Health concluded three agreements with a company, which was supposed to create an ICT support system for quality and cost management in public health care. In February 2012, the project was terminated without implementation and the supplier did not receive any payments. However, another company was paid over CZK 2 million for management of the project, and a law agency was paid over CZK 1 million for legal analyses and acts related to the termination of the agreement with the supplier. Thus, the Ministry spent the total amount of CZK 3.2 million in spite no actual works related to the project’s implementation were made.
When scrutinizing the Ministry’s expenses during the audited period, auditors revealed that the Ministry spent from CZK 5.3 million to CZK 6.1 million on travel expenses each year. During the audited period, the representation costs increased by one third: in 2011 the costs made CZK 1 million, while two years later the costs increased to CZK 1.7 million. In 2012, the Ministry’s gift costs were highest and made CZK 410,000. On the contrary, a significant drop in material consumption was noticed: the Ministry paid CZK 980 million for material costs in 2011, while in 2012 it was CZK 65 million and CZK 53 million in 2013. The high amount of 2011 costs was related to the purchase of influenza vaccination serums.
The SAO also scrutinized the Ministry’s accounting of assets and expenses. The audit revealed that the Ministry’s accounting for years 2009–2013 was not correct, as the Ministry failed to record assets into the appropriate accounting periods. Revealed shortcomings also included incorrect depreciation and non-observance of the content requirement with respect to items in the financial statements.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office