UKRAINE-OMBUDSMAN-AUDIT

Kyiv, August 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber has not found any violations in the activities of the secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada’s commissioner for human rights, the agency’s press service reported on Thursday.

“The Collegium of the Accounting Chamber has considered the results of the audit of the efficiency of the use of state budget funds by the budget program on the parliamentary control over the observance of constitutional human rights and freedoms in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, and concluded that the ombudsperson’s secretariat has on the whole met the target indicators of this program,” the statement reads.

However, the Accounting Chamber noted that “the current practice of funding the ombudsman’s activities does not contribute to the creation of proper conditions for the functioning of this institution.”

The report also said that the approved operating costs of the ombudsperson’s secretariat for this year are UAH 19 million, of which 92.2% are spent on salaries, and the amount of other operating expenses was reduced by almost 25%.

In addition, the Accounting Chamber said that the legal framework regulating the activities of the ombudsman, contains inconsistencies.

“Certain provisions of the law on the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner in terms of the financial support of its activities run contrary to the Budget Code,” the report says.

The Accounting Chamber sent its conclusions and proposals made as a result the audit to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers.

[UA EUROPE EEU EMRG POL PRO]

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12:19:09 EET-2