The control in NTM and the Czech Philharmonic will be carried out by Ernst & Young

Prague - The auditing firm Ernst & Young Audit will conduct an audit of the assets and management of the Ministry of Culture (MK) and the contributory organizations it establishes, the National Technical Museum (NTM) and the Czech Philharmonic (ČF). This was decided today by the selection committee of the MK, the office announced on its website. At the same time, the committee recommended signing a contract with KPMG to conduct an audit of the National Library (NK), which is also a contributory organization.
    The ministry was originally supposed to evaluate bids by August 20 after the envelopes were opened. In response to the call from Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09), the approached companies PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst & Young submitted proposals.
    "The ministry's management prioritized the audit of the National Technical Museum, the Czech Philharmonic, and the National Library because the situation in these organizations is so abnormal that they came first," said Stanislav Brunclík, the secretary of the Minister of Culture, to ČTK.
    Ernst & Young Audit will begin an external audit at NTM this week after signing contracts with the ministry. Its director, Horymír Kubíček, was dismissed from his position on August 19 by Minister Jiří Besser due to irregularities in management. The statutory representative, Oldřich Rambousek, has been entrusted with managing NTM. However, according to today's Mladá fronta Dnes, he allegedly padded his income from the museum's budget similarly to his former boss.
    Allegedly, he received tens of thousands in the form of fees for tax advisory to the museum. According to a non-standard employment contract, he allegedly also drew another tens of thousands into his own pocket from a grant provided by the Ministry of Culture to one of the museum's departments.
    The ministry already initiated an internal audit at NTM last week, accompanied by representatives from Transparency International. The ministry's auditors are also interested in deficiencies in the inventory of exhibits. "I firmly believe that the ongoing audit will clear my name," stated the dismissed director Kubíček in his announcement.
    Ernst & Young Audit will also conduct a review at the Czech Philharmonic, led by Václav Kasík, who was appointed by former minister Václav Riedlbauch without a competition. Riedlbauch's decision was reportedly due to deficiencies in the management of the previous director, Vladimír Darjanin. Philharmonic members are protesting against Kasík. Besser has already indicated that the situation "cannot possibly end anything other than a new selection process." Kasík stated that he would not apply for any future selection process.
    The company KPMG received a public contract to audit the NK. The reconstruction of its headquarters in Klementinum has replaced the originally intended new building. Together with the construction of warehouses in Hostivař, the costs will amount to three billion, and NK wants to have it completed by 2015.
    Given the time constraints, the ministry only approached three companies for the external audit, which were selected based on generally good references. However, this did not mean that other parties could not participate in submitting a bid.
    Besser called on auditing firms to submit bids at the beginning of last week. The letters to the companies, which the MK published on its website, indicate that the deadline for submitting written conclusions from the conducted forensic audit is no later than one month from the signing of the contract.