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Ombudsman: Finance Ministry Has Right to Audit Supreme Court
Monday 09 August 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, August 9 (TASR) - Slovak Ombudsman Pavel Kandrac said on Monday that he isn't sure whether his presence at a meeting between Finance Minister Ivan Miklos and Supreme Court Chairman Stefan Harabin would be much help in settling the dispute between the two institutions over who is authorised to audit the Supreme Court.
According to Kandrac, auditing the Court is "the sovereign right" of the Finance Ministry. "My office isn't against being audited either, as I view it as part of the management rules," said the ombudsman in response to Harabin's claim that both the ombudsman and Procecutor-General Dobroslav Trnka should be present at his meeting with Miklos.
"I have no idea what all of this is supposed to mean," said Kandrac, adding that he would consider attending the meeting only after he's officially invited.
Harabin has been refusing to allow Finance Ministry officials to audit the Court's accounts for nearly two weeks, arguing in writing to the ministry that the only body with the power to audit the Supreme Court is the Supreme Audit Office (NKU), as the Court uses funds approved in Parliament. Four attempts to carry out audits have been thwarted to date.
Meanwhile, the ministry has decided to hand out fines of €33,000 to Supreme Court and €1,000 to Harabin for blocking the audits.
Miklos said that checking on public spending is within the purview of his ministry, and not even the Supreme Court can choose whether the Supreme Audit Office or Finance Ministry should carry out audits. The ministry conducted similar audits at the Supreme Court in 2007 and 2009.
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