the complaints of “Upon NGOs (including the […] Transparency International Hungary) the Ombudsperson September 18 and 22, the tax authority suspended the “Between of Hungary concluded in a four consortium members’ tax numbers due to noncompliance letter sent to Lázár on 23 with KEHI audits. The NGOs appealed the tax authority’s decision. July 2014 that the When the deadline for processing the appeal passed at the interpretation of Norway shall beginning of November, the tax authority extended the deadline be also taken into account by another 30 days. The case remained pending at the end of with regard to the audit of the November. On October 22, without required consultation with funds. However, the audited organizations, KEHI submitted its report to the cabinet Ombudsperson did not take alleging numerous irregularities, such as retroactive changing of any further action. dates and manipulation of project evaluation scoring systems. The Government of Norway did not acknowledge the legitimacy September 2014 The of KEHI’s audit report and stated the donor countries would base “11 scope of the state audit is their evaluation of the NGO fund on an independent audit.” extended: On 11 September 2014 it was announced that Interviews of Civil Society by OGP Small Review Team, the scope of the GCO’s audit November 2015 had been extended to funds received by the Ökotárs in the a) Representatives of a major human rights organization framework of the confirmed in an interview (November 2015) that the audits were Cooperation far broader than four Norwegian funds, and note that Programme, and also to funds justifications for audits were very vague. received from other state budget sources. They noted that several audits of civil society are still ongoing, and that only criminal charges have since been dropped against September 2014 The certain civil society groups. “18-24 tax number of fund operators is suspended: On 18 In fact there is a pending FOI request in relation to the audits to September 2014, the tax try and determine who authorized/instigated the audit number of the consortium’s proceedings i.e. whether it was the Prime Minister, or a Minister, fourth member, the Kárpátok but have so far been refused access to this information. Foundation was suspended,
“Upon the complaints of NGOs (including the Transparency International Hungary) the Ombudsperson of Hungary concluded in a letter sent to Lázár on 23 July 2014 that the interpretation of Norway shall be also taken into account with regard to the audit of the funds. However, the Ombudsperson did not take any further action. “11 September 2014 The scope of the state audit is extended: On 11 September 2014 it was announced that the scope of the GCO’s audit had been extended to funds received by the Ökotárs in the framework of the Cooperation Programme, and also to funds received from other state budget sources. “18-24 September 2014 The tax number of fund operators is suspended: On 18 September 2014, the tax number of the consortium’s fourth member, the Kárpátok Foundation was suspended, […] “Between September 18 and 22, the tax authority suspended the four consortium members’ tax numbers due to noncompliance with KEHI audits. The NGOs appealed the tax authority’s decision. When the deadline for processing the appeal passed at the beginning of November, the tax authority extended the deadline by another 30 days. The case remained pending at the end of November. On October 22, without required consultation with audited organizations, KEHI submitted its report to the cabinet alleging numerous irregularities, such as retroactive changing of dates and manipulation of project evaluation scoring systems. The Government of Norway did not acknowledge the legitimacy of KEHI’s audit report and stated the donor countries would base their evaluation of the NGO fund on an independent audit.” Interviews of Civil Society by OGP Small Review Team, November 2015 a) Representatives of a major human rights organization confirmed in an interview (November 2015) that the audits were far broader than four Norwegian funds, and note that justifications for audits were very vague. They noted that several audits of civil society are still ongoing, and that only criminal charges have since been dropped against certain civil society groups. In fact there is a pending FOI request in relation to the audits to try and determine who authorized/instigated the audit proceedings i.e. whether it was the Prime Minister, or a Minister, but have so far been refused access to this information.
Hungary%20Review%20Team%20Report%20Final.docx