The president of the civic association (OZ) Projekt Fórum Marta Šimečková never got rich from this association. She stated this in her statement. She claims that, on the contrary, she went into debt to keep the project going. At the same time, Šimečková admitted that she neglected administrative matters in the OZ. However, she is ready to bear the legal consequences.
- Marta Šimečková states that she did not get rich financially from the civic association.
- The financial costs of the Central European Forum exceeded the received public subsidies every year.
- Repeated documenting of the same invoices in several grant accounts caused errors.
- For a long time, Šimečková neglected the control of the accounting and administration of the Forum Project.
- The police are conducting a criminal investigation on suspicion of subsidy fraud in the association.
According to her, the costs related to the organization of the Central European Forum exceeded the amount that the association received from public sources every year. This difference was paid from its own resources and private donations. “The same invoices were backdated to multiple bills, even though there were enough other eligible costs that should have been listed there instead. This didn’t lead to duplicate payments, but it’s a grant billing error that shouldn’t have happened.” said Šimečková.
She admitted that, as a member of the civil association, for many years she had neglected her duty to ensure that the accounting and administration of the Forum Project were in order. “I was fully absorbed by the content side of the project and the concern that the forum could be financially tightened. I did not have the capacity for administration and payments, despite the fact that this is one of the duties of a statutory representative.” noted Šimečková, saying that her colleague was working on it. “I do not shirk my responsibility and I am ready to bear the legal consequences for all failures,” added.
When completing the documents, the accountant pointed out to Šimečková that the statements from the accounts that her colleague submitted in the grant statements did not match the original statements that she received directly from the bank. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know about it, although as a statutory employee I should have checked,” she added. Šimečková declared that she will fully cooperate with the investigator and will also transparently inform the public.
The government audit regarding the use of public subsidies also revealed deficiencies in the civil association Projekt Fórum, in which Marta Šimečková, the mother of the opposition PS leader Michal Šimečka, is a statutory member. In March, the police started a new criminal investigation in connection with the Forum Project on suspicion of subsidy fraud.
