Irregular spending at Batman University caught in Court of Accounts report: Furniture purchased with Erasmus funds
Irregular spending reflected in Court of Accounts reports has drawn attention. According to the report, Batman University used 4,350 Euros allocated for the Erasmus program to purchase furniture. The report emphasized that this expenditure was contrary to the rules in the Erasmus handbook and that the grant was unrelated to student and staff mobility.
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It has been reflected in Court of Accounts reports that furniture was purchased at Batman University using funds allocated for the Erasmus program. According to the 2023 Court of Accounts report, the university spent 4,350 Euros on furniture purchases.
The report stated that the expenditures made from the Erasmus institutional support grant were contrary to the principles and rules written in the handbook, noting: "It has been observed that the institutional support grant provided within the scope of Erasmus and individual learning mobility was spent in violation of the provisions of the handbook prepared for higher education institutions by the European Union Education and Youth Programmes Center Presidency for each contract period."
According to the report by Evren Demirdaş from Sözcü newspaper, this situation was evaluated as being contrary to the handbook rules.
The report, which drew attention to the fact that expenditures not in accordance with the principles and rules written in the handbook were made from the Erasmus institutional support grant, used the following expressions:
“It has been observed that in 2023, a total of 11,430.13 Euros, consisting of 7,079.27 Euros for international and domestic travel and events within the scope of Erasmus and 4,350.86 Euros for the purchase of a furniture set, was paid from the IS (Institutional Support) grant by transferring funds from the 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2022 budgets. As stated above, the IS grant is calculated by multiplying the number of mobilities by the grant given per mobility, and the IS grant related to each contract period must be spent within the contract period for which it was allocated.
Even if it is assumed that the IS grant spent in 2023 belongs to the 2022 contract period, it has been observed that the 11,430.13 Euro amount spent exceeds the 8,400 Euro IS grant amount determined for 2022. Furthermore, it is evaluated that covering furniture and furnishing expenses, which should be purchased with special budget resources and are not directly related to Erasmus mobility activities, from the support grant is not in accordance with the principles and rules specified in the Handbook and the program guide, and that purchasing a sofa set for an office will not contribute to increasing student and staff mobility within the scope of Erasmus.”
Additionally, it was determined that the current usage patterns of the university's immovable properties do not match their types in the records.