Higher education institutions commit gross violations worth billions of soums on public procurement and payments 

Durdona Ochilova, spokeswoman for the Anti-Corruption Agency, told Kun.uz about the work done by the Agency within the framework of the project “Sector without corruption” in higher and secondary specialized education.

It was noted that as a result of measures taken under the project “Sector without corruption” in 2019, the number of crimes committed in higher education decreased from 142 to 87. In the first six months of 2021, the figure was 16, with 26 participants. In 2019, the Department of State Financial Control and the internal audit service of the ministry revealed violations in higher education institutions worth about 20 billion soums, while in 2021 this figure amounted to 5.2 billion soums.

In addition, during the preventive measures carried out in 2019-2021, the documents on 6 expenditures of more than 1 billion soums, which contain elements of crime, were submitted to law enforcement agencies for legal assessment.

“Disciplinary action was taken against 139 employees who made financial mistakes. Of these, 99 employees were reprimanded, 3 were fined and 37 were fired,” the agency said in a statement.

Also, when the Anti-Corruption Agency studied the factors that cause corruption in some universities, the conditions that lead to it, the use of budgetary and off-budgetary funds, payment of salaries, stipends and other payments, as well as compliance with the law on public procurement, it was identified that a number of legislative requirements have been violated.

“Material resources worth 348 million soums were purchased at high prices at Bukhara State University, and more than 222 million soums were misappropriated. 246 million soums worth of equipment not specified in the contract were purchased. The requirements of the law on public procurement were not observed in the tenders for 20 billion soums. At the Bukhara Institute of Engineering and Technology, over 13.5 million soums were overpaid for graduate students as a stipend. The tender worth 1.1 billion soums held by the Tashkent State University of Economics violated the requirements of the legislation on public procurement,” the spokesman said.

It was noted that the work in the system of higher education will continue within the framework of the project “Sector without corruption”.