Dombrava and Puntulis Demand Audit of All Asylum and Migration Fund Projects

National Alliance politicians – Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava and Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis – have turned to the Audit Authority of the Ministry of Finance, requesting an expansion of the system audit scope for the 2021–2027 planning period of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. They want all projects administered by the Ministry of Culture to be included.

The move is based on violations and significant deficiencies found during a financial audit of one project under the activity "Intercultural Communication Training for Professionals in Various Fields". However, the Ministry of Finance emphasizes that the audit has not yet been completed, so it cannot comment on the findings.

The politicians fear that the violations may be systemic and not limited to a single project. They want the audit to cover the entire project cycle – from selection to implementation and monitoring – to improve transparency and efficiency.

Earlier, Puntulis suspended the right of the association "Latvian Women's NGO Cooperation Network" to carry out any further financial operations in the project "Societal Diversity and Intercultural Communication for Professionals Working with Third-Country Nationals". The total budget is €249,000, of which €74,000 has been spent. Checks on the use of funds are ongoing.

According to the NA politicians, the Finance Ministry's audit indicates that the association cannot clearly state participant selection criteria, expense justification, and that the volume of training is not traceable. There are suspicions of artificially inflated participant numbers. The Ministry of Finance itself has not published these conclusions.

Meanwhile, Dombrava has terminated the Interior Ministry's cooperation memoranda with the associations "I Want to Help Refugees" and "Latvian Women's NGO Cooperation Network". He has started an analysis of programs that provide funding to NGOs from the ministry's funds. One randomly checked project, according to Dombrava, shows gross violations that may require full repayment.

Both affected organizations reject the accusations and see the NA's actions as an attempt to curb civil society.