These are the results of the audit of the use of state budget funds for 2023-2024 and the management of public property by the state museums founded by the Ministry of Culture. The audit was conducted in the Ministry and 7 state museums subordinated to it: the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Museum of Art, the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the Reserve “Old Orhei”, the Museum Complex “Orhei” and the Museum of History of the Jews of Moldova.
The audit showed that the management of financial resources and cultural heritage was carried out with significant deviations from the legal requirements.
Thus, out of 900.7 thousand units of movable cultural heritage managed by museums, only 3.4 thousand objects (0.38%) are reflected in the accounting records. The process of inventory and classification is recognized as uneven and extremely slow: only about 0.31% of funds are included in the National Register of Movable Cultural Heritage.
The audit also revealed problems in the implementation of projects on reconstruction and restoration of monuments. The lack of a clear mechanism for prioritizing investments and the mismatch between budget allocations and the real capacities of museums led to delays in work, increased costs and risks of degradation of cultural heritage objects. Some expenditures were recognized as unjustified, including payment for work not performed. Irregularities in the administration of rental income were also revealed: museums did not collect debts in a timely manner, which led to the accumulation of amounts with expired statute of limitations and the risk of non-repayment, and the lack of assessment of property value in rental agreements created additional tax risks.
