The Ministry of Finance has just sent a report to Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on July 21 on the results of the pilot inspection of the management of donation money at historical and cultural relics, communal houses and pagodas in Quang Ninh province in 2022 and the first four months of 2023.
According to the report, there are 50 relics without reported donation figures, including Ba Vang Pagoda in Uong Bi, a provincial relic, which is considered a pagoda with high donation revenue.
Regarding pagodas that do not report, the Ministry of Finance cited Clause 2, Article 18 of Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTC stipulating that organizations and individuals who are owners or assigned to manage and use relics are responsible for "providing timely information when requested by competent authorities in accordance with the provisions of law".
Ba Vang Pagoda does not report donations.
Notably, the Ministry of Finance's report also pointed out many unreasonable donation amounts of some large relics. Specifically, at the Yen Tu historical relic and scenic spot, the donation amount of 3.7 billion VND in 2022 seems unreasonable, because it is only equivalent to the amount collected at the Bach Dang historical relic site (3.3 billion VND), lower than the amount collected at the Thanh Mau Temple, a provincial relic in Tra Co ward, Mong Cai (5.8 billion VND) and less than 1/5 of the amount collected at Cua Ong Temple (20.1 billion VND).
" Looking at the above comparative data, it is inevitable that there will be concerns about the objectivity in receiving and counting donation money at the historical relic and scenic spot Yen Tu ," the report of the Ministry of Finance wrote.
In addition, according to data provided by the Yen Tu National Park and Relic Management Board, from 2007 to April 2023, the total revenue from the donation box was 287 billion VND, and the total expenditure was about 638 billion VND.
The Ministry believes that the actual amount of donation money collected is at least 351 billion VND higher than the amount stated in the report sent to the inspection team. If the amount of revenue is calculated by the amount of expenditure, it is 2.2 times higher.
At the sites where monks preside, most of the sites have reports on income and expenditure, but only the amount in the donation box. In reality, there are some other donations in the form of offerings and transfers that are not reflected in the reports sent to the inspection team. According to visitors' assessments, these amounts are often higher than the amount put in the donation box.
The Ministry of Finance's report also said that the total revenue in 2022 is 70.8 billion VND (excluding donations, in-kind sponsorship, and construction works), equal to about 40 - 60% of the donation and sponsorship revenue in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The total expenditure is 54.4 billion VND.
In the first four months of 2023, total revenue was 61 billion VND (excluding donations, in-kind sponsorship, and construction works), nearly equal to the revenue of the whole year of 2022. Total expenditure was 29.4 billion VND.
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