Prosecutor's offices in the Vitebsk region have identified violations in the provision of subsidies to the unemployed

The prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region conducted an inspection of compliance by the departments for labor, employment, and social protection of district executive committees with the legislation on assisting unemployed persons in organizing entrepreneurial activities, services in the field of agro-tourism, and craft activities.

As the results of the verification activities showed, the work with unemployed persons by the district executive committees does not fully comply with the requirements of the legislation. Pre-contractual work is sometimes formal in nature, and the personal abilities and professional skills of applicants, their entrepreneurial qualities, and the feasibility of achieving the performance indicators indicated by the unemployed in their business plans are not properly analyzed.

Facts have been established regarding the provision of subsidies to individuals for the purpose of partial reimbursement of acquired assets for entrepreneurial activities, while a proper study and analysis of the applicant's actual solvency is not carried out, which leads to the non-fulfillment of contractual obligations.

Facts of improper performance of duties regarding the control of the return of unjustified subsidies to the budget have also been revealed. Thus, officials of several district executive committees illegally granted debtors installment plans for subsidy repayment for up to 16 months.

Prosecutors noted the need to improve control by officials of district executive committees over the actual expenditure of subsidies for contractual purposes before issuing a conclusion on the targeted use of the subsidy, over the use of equipment purchased with subsidies in further activities, and in general, over whether applicants are engaged in such activities at all.

Following the inspection, the prosecutor's office of the Vitebsk region submitted a representation to the chairman of the committee for labor, employment, and social protection of the regional executive committee. The review of the supervision act is under the control of the region's supervisory authority.

Prosecutor of the Department of the Regional Prosecutor's Office Pavel Sukhov.