Azeri Finance Ministry, Prosecutor’s Office to audit NGOs
Azadliq, Baku
29 Apr 05
Text of ATV report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 29 April
headlined “The authorities are starting an attack on the NGOs”
The Finance Ministry and the Prosecutor-General’s Office have decided
to audit non-governmental organizations operating in the country. The
purpose of the audit is to check the main financial sources of
NGOs. The inspection will be carried out on the basis of information
provided, the prosecutor’s office said.
However, they said that the audit would not be confined to
this. Special attention will be focused on the NGOs that have an
uncertain position on statehood and maintain close contacts with
Armenia.
The Finance Ministry said that most of the 400 NGOs operating in the
country exist only on paper and grants allocated to them are
misspent. The ministry said that according to the law, all NGOs should
report to the ministry once a year and notify the ministry every time
they receive a grant. The ministry has doubts about the transparency
of these reports. They also said that the transparency of the
financial sources of the NGOs would be one of the main areas of the
audit.
The ministry and the prosecutor’s office stressed that the audit would
not hamper the activities of the NGOs.