Justice Ministry: Audit Confirms Violation of Law in Human Rights Subsidies

        Bratislava, September 2 (TASR) - The audit confirmed manipulations and violations of the law in the area of human rights subsidies and the Justice Ministry therefore claims that it acted correctly in scrapping the human rights subsidy scheme for 2024, TASR was told by the ministry's press department on Monday.
        According to the ministry, the audit also found systemic as well as non-systemic failures. "It was proved that in the cancelled call, as many as 37 applications were included in the evaluation process in violation of the law, although they didn't meet the criteria set by the law at all, and they advanced to the second round with a high chance of receiving the required financial subsidy," said the Justice Ministry.
        The entire organisation of the provision of human rights subsidies in the amount of €769,500 was in the hands of two employees of the Justice Ministry, whose functions were cumulated, stated the ministry.
        "The human rights department director was at the same time the evaluation committee chairman, and the applications administrator was also the evaluation committee secretary as well as a subordinate employee of the human rights department director," said the ministry, adding that in the hands of the two persons, various powers and duties converged, which had an impact on the awarding of grants to applicants. The Justice Ministry further stated that the absence of any internal regulation in this case opened the way for possible non-transparent practices.
         The Justice Ministry informed in February about the cancellation of the call for applications for subsidies in the Human Rights 2024 programme with an allocation of €769,500. The ministry had suspected manipulation in the selection of successful applicants for human rights grants. It therefore audited the grant mechanism.