The Hungarian Government issued a letter to the domestic CEO of Ernst and Young, asking for permission to obtain the report on the usage of Norway Grants between 2008 and 2010, Deputy State Secretary for Development Policy Communication Nándor Csepreghy announced at a press conference on Friday.
The Deputy State Secretary said that according to the press, the Brussels-based Financial Mechanism Office (FMO), which is responsible for handling and coordinating EEA Grants, called for a report from Ernst and Young.
He underlined that the results of this audit have confirmed the Hungarian Government's concerns, including the lack of guarantees for the independence of the assessment panels, the selection of the members of the panels from within the consortium, the changing of the scores with retroactive effect without proper explanation, as well as announcing some applications winners that received lower scores and rejecting others with higher scores.
The Deputy State Secretary added that if press reports are confirmed, the Hungarian Government will have no other choice but to submit a criminal report about the alleged violations.
(Prime Minister's Office)
