Massive mismanagement in Culture Ministry risks the work of some of Ukraine’s most important museums

Ukraine’s Culture & Information Policy Ministry mismanaged $116 million (UAH 4.2 billion) in state revenues from 2018-2022 for the activities of the Museums of the Revolution of Dignity, the Holodomor Genocide and the State Archive, the Accounting Chamber reported.

Out of $91 million (UAH 3.3 billion) of significant shortcomings and violations, $85 million (UAH 3.08 billion) were violations of budget and other legislation, of which more than $15 million (UAH 550.2 million) were committed during the preparation of budget requests, almost $70 million (UAH 2.53 billion) – during the approval of estimates, and almost $80 thousand (UAH 2.8 million) – during project implementation.

An additional nearly $6 million (UAH 209 million) from the state budget was spent in an unproductive, inefficient, and uneconomical manner. The unjustified decision to pay an advance for certain works on the construction of the Museum of the Revolution of Dignity led to the formation of overdue budget receivables in the amount of $3 million (UAH 112 million), and the inefficient use of funds in particularly large amounts, as well as the risk of causing damage to the state.

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The audit found that untimely management decisions created conditions for the inefficient use of $2.5 million (UAH 91 million), including more than $2 million (UAH 79.5 million) due to a significant increase in the total cost of reconstruction of the Holodomor Memorial and the need to adjust working documentation under a separate contract worth more than $300.000 (UAH 11 million). At the same time, budget expenditures for preparatory and construction works for the construction of the second stage of the museum in 2019-2022 have already amounted to almost $15.5 million (UAH 562 million).

Due to the failure to ensure the proper level of organization of the process, almost $8.5 million (UAH 320 million) remained unused.

At the same time, the State Archives of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, which was established in 2019, could not perform its main tasks and functions due to an insufficient and unequipped premises. The total estimated cost of reconstruction of the archive premises, which required funding, was $19 million (UAH 686 million).

As a result, all these institutions, despite significant budgetary expenditures, are in a state of uncertainty about the possible completion of the work.

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