New problems for NCBR. Prosecutor's office has launched an investigation

• Startup Human Culture has been in dispute with NCBR over the assessment of the project for 16 months. The settlement is suspended, and the company has lost liquidity.
• There is an ongoing prosecutor's investigation into potential conflicts of interest related to the actions of the auditor assessing the company.
• According to the founders of Human Culture, the dispute revealed systemic problems: a lack of adequate supervision of auditors and a lack of regulations preventing conflicts of interest in audits of EU projects.

Human Culture Sp. z o. o. is a technology startup that deals with artificial intelligence. In 2020, it submitted an application for project funding to NCBR under the Smart Growth Operational Program. It was to develop an innovative platform supporting recruitment processes based on artificial intelligence models and knowledge in the field of psychometrics. Its operation was to shorten the time for companies to search for employees and ensure that they will be better suited to the needs of entrepreneurs.

The application passed the assessment and in June 2021, NCBR signed a contract with Human Culture. The total value of the project was slightly over PLN 8 million, of which the agency was to cover PLN 5.7 million. The contract was amended in September 2023. The project itself was to be completed by November 30, 2023. However, problems began just before settlement.

Inspection, second inspection and months of exchanging letters

A month before the end of the project, the startup received a notification from NCBR about a planned substantive and financial audit. It was to take place in early December, and an NCBR expert was responsible for it. He found no irregularities, and the company has proof - audit protocols.

However, they were found by a second, external auditor - DPC Audit Partner, which was responsible for financial control. - The main objection that the auditor had to Human Culture was that the business was not conducted at the company's registered address, and this was one of the conditions for financing the project - says Robert Kowalski, president of Human Culture. - Our explanations, supported by evidence in the form of contracts and invoices, that the office in Szczecin exists and the project was carried out there, were not accepted. The auditor had reservations that part of the IT work was carried out remotely due to the pandemic, although this was forced by the epidemiological situation and in accordance with the law - he adds.

For 16 months, NCBR has not issued an administrative decision regarding Human Culture, so the project remains suspended. As a result, the settlement of the grant was frozen and the company returned approximately PLN 200,000 that it had spent on the last stage of the project. This led to problems with liquidity and the initiation of liquidation proceedings.

In his report to the prosecutor's office, Kowalski said that in public registers he had traced family ties to companies that applied for financing in the same competition.

NCBR: auditor provided statements of impartiality

The spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office of Warszawa Wola confirms that an investigation into the abuse of power by employees of the National Centre for Research and Development is underway under the supervision of PR.

The case concerns the ordering in November 2023 of the company DPC Audit Partner sp. z o. o. to audit the financial performance of a project implemented by Human Culture sp. z o. o., which received funding from NCBR. According to the notification of the president of Human Culture, these actions could have exposed the company to damage.

The proceedings are being conducted in the case, not against the person. Witnesses are being questioned.

We asked NCBR about its position on the matter. In response to WNP's questions, agency representatives assured us that there was no conflict of interest. - The contractor submitted a quarterly declaration of impartiality for projects indicated for inspection in a given quarter, including the Human Culture Sp. z o. o. project - officials convince us. - Additionally, each member of the inspection team submitted a personal declaration of impartiality under penalty of criminal liability for each inspected project - they add.

NCBR also assures that the control activities of DPC Audit Partner were conducted in accordance with applicable regulations and internal procedures. It also reminds that the contractor for the control of the Smart Growth Operational Program (POIR) was selected as a result of a tender procedure under the Public Procurement Law.

Today, however, NCBR no longer cooperates with DPC Audit Partner. Contracts for conducting project audits were signed after the change of government with other companies.

In October 2024, an agreement to carry out financial control of projects was signed with Idipsum Sp. z o. o. The contract to control the durability of POIR projects in 2025 and 2026 was received in December 2024 by the Cooperation Fund Foundation.

The startup case shows systemic problems

According to Kowalski, the case showed that there is a systemic problem with auditors assessing the spending of EU funds. The point is that companies such as DPC do not have to operate under the supervision of the Polish Audit Supervision Agency (PANA) - unlike auditors assessing banks or joint-stock companies.

This means that entities auditing EU programmes worth billions of euros remain outside professional audit supervision, wrote Kowalski in a letter to the EU Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Administration, Piotr Serafin.

He also noted the lack of conflict of interest regulations for auditors of EU funds. "Although Polish regulations establish safeguards against conflict of interest for public officials and expert teams assessing projects financed from EU funds, there are no (at all) detailed regulations regarding protection against conflict of interest in relation to external auditors of EU funds," he wrote.

"This constitutes a serious gap in the control system which exposes EU funds to the risk of misappropriation," he concluded.