Until then, neither the ministry nor Chairman Hniička want to comment. The inspectors were sent to the agency in February by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, stating that if serious mistakes were found, Hnilička would have to leave office.
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At that time, he reacted to the findings of the List of Reports that the agency for the control and administration of subsidies from the My Club program intended for direct support of sports for children and youth used not only its officials but also the external company Moore Czech Republic. Representatives of the agency explained that they had done so in order to pay the subsidies quickly.
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The agency’s clerical positions were not yet fully filled, as it was taking over the agenda from the Ministry of Education. Due to this, employees of the State Environmental Fund also helped with subsidies to compensate for losses caused by coronavirus. The inspectors criticized this in both cases.
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The inspectors found other mistakes in the Covid Sport I grant call. Instead of the deadline set by the European Commission from 12 March to 24 May 2020, the agency announced it for the whole months of March, April and May.
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The main problem was the algorithm for calculating the limits for recognized costs. The total budget did not take into account restrictions such as a maximum of 25 percent of the cost of marketing activities related to the canceled sporting event. Organizations could thus receive higher subsidies than they were entitled to. A similar problem was in this year’s program to support sports associations. In both cases, there were insufficient control mechanisms, the inspectors claim.
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Ministry of Finance spokesman Šimon Blecha did not want to comment on the server information. “The control of the Ministry of Finance at the National Sports Agency is not over, so we cannot comment on the results,” he said.
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The head of the Hnilička agency reacted similarly. “The control process is an administrative procedure that is not public by law, so we will not comment on it until it is completed. I am surprised that you have the concepts of the Ministry of Finance at your disposal, although by law only officials and participants have access to administrative files. “We have objected to the draft protocol, which is now being settled by the ministry, and only then will it write the conclusion of the inspection,” he said.
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