Interior Ministry lowers anti-corruption funding

The Ministry of the Interior has decided to lower its funding for NGOs focused on combating corruption, Czech Radio reported on Friday. A total of CZK 4 million is set to be moved from the ministry’s programme for preventing corruption into other areas, such as transport security and drink driving prevention. The ministry has justified its decision on the basis of a change in priorities. However, a report by Czech Radio highlights that the government’s anti-corruption strategy for the years 2018–2022 promised to increase funding on anti-corruption projects by 20 percent.

NGOs offering free judicial advice are expected to be affected the most. The director of the Czech branch of Transparency International, David Ondráčka, said he believed the move could be the consequence of his organisation’s exposure of politicians’ conflicts of interest and affairs within government parties.