Under the Act on Subsidies within the Ministry of Defence, which applied in 2022–2024, incomplete applications should not have been assessed. However, a lower-level regulation – the decree on the commission – allowed the commission’s secretary to request applicants to supplement their submissions. 

“Such a procedure was contrary to the law, and this discrepancy was only removed during the SAO SR audit, through an amendment to the Act on Subsidies, approved by the National Council of the Slovak Republic in May this year,” said the Vice-President of the Office, Jaroslav Ivančo. The Ministry of Defence’s Legislative and Legal Section had also highlighted this inconsistency. Auditors found that some applicants who were asked to correct deficiencies failed to do so, yet their applications were still submitted to the commission for assessment. Within the sample reviewed, €99,000 in subsidies had been granted in breach of the Act on Subsidies, thereby violating financial discipline under the Budgetary Rules Act.

Applicants were required to submit applications without identification. Auditors noticed that in some anonymised applications the ministry altered the structure of the text in the section describing activities, as well as the structure of individual budget items. The ministry’s decree did not specify how many days before the meeting the secretary had to provide the chair and members of the commission with the applications. Auditors found that applications were presented to members only on the day of the meeting, during which they were to review an average of 174 applications. 

“If commission members saw the applications only on the day of the meeting, they lacked the necessary conditions for objective and reliable assessment,” the Vice-President further stressed. Errors also appeared in the publication of results: some results or dates of rejected applications were not published, or the reasons for rejection were not provided. 

“The identified and recurring shortcomings undermine the credibility of the subsidy allocation system and raise questions about its transparency,” added the SAO Vice-President, Jaroslav Ivančo. Throughout the three years examined, not a single on-site inspection of subsidy use was carried out at recipients’ premises. The Internal Audit Unit of the Ministry of Defence did not carry out any audit in this area, also due to its understaffing. An effective internal control system must be an integral part of the governance of public institutions. 

“It is a key tool for ensuring the achievement of objectives and the efficient and purposeful use of public funds,” emphasised J. Ivančo. Had a sufficiently effective internal control system been in place at the Ministry of Defence, repeated errors in the granting and settlement of subsidies would not have occurred.

Examples of projects awarded subsidies pursuant to Section 2(a)–(d) of the Act on Subsidies in 2022–2024

Project title

• Reconstruction of the Museum of Emigration for the purpose of creating an Exhibition of American Slovaks Serving in the US Army – Phase II
• European Championships in Small-Sided Football
• Expansion of the Military Exhibition of Michal Strenk – Office – Custodian’s Flat – Community Centre of the Exhibition
• Statue of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik – Historical Tribute to an Eminent Figure of His Era
• Night of Museums and Galleries 2022 at the Museum Department Facility in Svidník
• Restoration of collection items of the Military History Institute (MHI) on long-term loan
• Window to Bradlo
• Restoration of the Monument to Victims Tortured in the Second World War
• Support for Sports Talents and Elite Karate Athletes
• Reconstruction of the War Cemetery in the Municipality of Zboj

Source: Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic; processed by SAO SR