Culture Ministry: Audit at SND Revealed Serious Misconduct by Former Management

Bratislava, 11 September (TASR) - An internal audit at the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava has identified 15 flaws, including four highly serious ones, head of the Culture Ministry's press department Petra Demkova informed TASR on Thursday. The flaws mainly concern the uneconomical, inefficient and ineffective handling of public funds, as well as the failure to comply with the set way of handling them. The ministry spoke of serious misconduct by SND's former management. "The first serious flaw of the theatre's former management was the failure to carry out basic financial controls in the manner set by law, as it was exercised only formally," Demkova explained. The second one was the uneconomical, inefficient and ineffective use of public funds, namely by concluding a lease contract for premises in Bratislava's borough of Lamac, which were to serve as the SND Art Workshops. Although the former management found this to be a suitable choice, the audit has proven that the premises couldn't be used for the declared purpose. This subsequently led to further mismanagement of finances. Employees were receiving salaries, but had nowhere to work for several months. The ministry notes that more than €263,000 was paid to the lessor. "The Culture Ministry therefore considers this lease contract disadvantageous and uneconomical, viewing the whole procedure as a waste of public funds," stressed Demkova, claiming that the institution's reputation has been damaged by this as well. The ministry criticised the "unreasonably drawn-out procedure" related to the dismissal of former SND director Matej Drlicka. It also pointed to shortcomings when it comes to the payment of salaries to employees of the SND Opera section, who failed to meet the set monthly number of appearances and concluded artistic contracts with internal employees in violation of internal regulations. ko/df