The deputies requested the Supreme Audit Office to investigate the National Library

Prague - The Parliamentary Control Committee today submitted a proposal to the Supreme Audit Office to check the disbursement of funds for the construction project of a new building for the National Library in Prague. However, the office, which oversees the management of state funds and property, may not have to comply with them. As emphasized by the committee's chairman Vladimír Koníček (Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia) at today's committee meeting, the committee cannot assign tasks to the Supreme Audit Office.
    "We will address this in the standard manner," the office's spokesperson Radka Burketová told ČTK. The proposal will be received by the board, which meets every two weeks. Its next meeting will take place on November 19. If the office receives the proposal by then, it may address it during this meeting, the spokesperson confirmed. The board can then decide whether to relate the audit to a specific action or include it in the plan for audit activities. It can also reject the proposal.
    The state has so far allocated nearly 1.8 billion crowns for the library. For next year alone, this amounts to 219 million crowns. The committee also called on the Office for the Protection of Competition to inform the deputies about its procedures in this matter. The Office for the Protection of Competition claims that it does not have jurisdiction to investigate this competition.
    The deputies reacted to a letter sent by the architectural studio HŠH architects through a law firm. They finished third in the competition for the construction of the new National Library building. The architects have lodged complaints with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies. Among other things, their complaint concerns the alleged irregularities of the competition.