Prague, Jan 31 (CTK) – The Czech Health Ministry has filed a legal complaint over dubious contracts for 2.5 million crowns put up by the previous ministerial senior officials, Health Minister Adam Vojtech (ANO) told journalists on Wednesday.
The complaint relates to plots in public procurement and breach of trust in property administration, Vojtech said.
The inconsistencies were uncovered by an audit for 2015 and 2016. According to its results, it cannot be proven whether the ministry received everything for what it paid.
These were the contracts in the sphere of public relations such as events for journalists or gifts. Some contracts were only finished after the event was held.
The legal action was highlighted by the server Blesk.cz.
At the time in question, the ministry was headed by Svatopluk Nemecek (Social Democrats, CSSD).
Nemecek told CTK on Wednesday that he could not comment on the results of the audit.
“These are the things on the level that is not dealt with by a minister. This is done by the officials working some three levels lower,” Nemecek said.
“I do not know any of the things,” he added.
“He is not signed under it, but it relates to the public relations department that reported to the health minister,” Vojtech said.
He said the department had been been headed by Jan Stoll. He has not yet been available for comment.
The server Blesk.cz writes that the invitations for the events, their dates and an overview of the costs were lacked for the events for journalists in the luxurious Chateau St. Havel for 20,000 crowns, a stay at the Stirin chateau for 180,000 crowns and three events in the Horske lazne Karlova Studanka spa for over half a million.
According to the audit, the ministry also paid for what its officials could have done themselves, such as the creation of profiles on the twitter.
It spent 220,000 crowns on a four-page legal analysis.
Vojtech said he wanted to continue with the audits and checks. He has commissioned the checks of the hospitals administered by the ministry this year.
A part of the costs, the audit has warned of, covers the trainings for Nemecek. He need not have known about them at all. There are no documents about them at the ministry and there is not his signature at the attendance sheets, Blesk writes.
