NKÚ audit: Trade Ministry improperly used EU funds to pay for social events

The Ministry of Industry and Trade improperly used some 1.2 million crowns of EU funds to pay for employee social events characterised as “educational seminars”, according to a Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) audit.

The EU funds came from the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness (OP EIC).

NKÚ inspectors assessed the Ministry’s funding of social events using EU funds as a breach of budgetary discipline and reported their suspicion to Czech tax authorities.

A Ministry spokesperson said the audit report was out of date, and the programme had been suspended and personnel changes made accordingly.