MP of Smer party has power-plants near Italian-run farmstead

The power plant and the farm share the same access road. Long-time Prešov regional governor claims he does not know owner Diego Roda who was investigated by police in 45 cases.

P. Chudík (L) with Prime Minister Robert Fico announces his candidacy for Prešov governor, June 2017. P. Chudík (L) with Prime Minister Robert Fico announces his candidacy for Prešov governor, June 2017. (Source: TASR)

In the work of the murdered journalist Ján Kuciak which he could not finish, an international investigative team continues. The Aktuality.sk website, the Sme, Denník N, Nový Čas, and Hospodárske Noviny dailies, the Postoj website, the Aliancia Fair-play watchdog, the Trend weekly, TV broadcasters Markíza and JOJ, the Czech Radio, Swiss Blick, Polish Onet and German Die Welt continue. The story on Peter Chudík was brought forth by aktuality.sk, Sme and Trend.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Former Prešov regional governor and current Smer MP, Peter Chudík, co-owns solar power plants in Humenné, surrounded by farmstead and land of the Italian Roda family, which is headed by Diego Roda. In Slovakia, he does business mostly in agriculture and his daughter is the wife of Antonino Vadala.

SkryťTurn off ads

“Diego Roda is directly from a ’Ndrangheta family,” reporter of the Italian La Repubblica daily, Giuliano Foschini, who writes about mafia, told aktuality.sk.

’Ndrangheta is one of the strongest criminal gangs in the world. The killed journalist Ján Kuciak described its ties to the Slovak politicians of the ruling Smer party in his last, unfinished story. He failed to analyse and include in his story the finding that Chudík’s enterprises lie next to the Rodas.

Journalist Tom Nicholson told Denník N that before the 2016 election, Vadala called on people to elect Chudík, and he called Smer “our party”. Later, he deleted these posts from Facebook.

He entered energy sector as governor

Chudík was regional governor since the first election of heads of self-governing regions, in 2001. Last year, he failed to be re-elected; he lost by 20,000 votes. He is still a Smer MP, though. He started an enterprise in the energy sector in January 2011 when he bought two companies with developer František Závacký – 1. FVE Humenné and 2. FVE Humenné. They own solar power plants with a total performance of two Megawatts. This is a common output of solar plants in Slovakia, but not crucial from the point of view of the energy sector. Each of the four blocks of the nuclear power plant in Mochovce has a performance of 471 Megawatts, i.e. more than 200-times bigger than these solar power-plants in Humenné.

SkryťTurn off ads

For Chudík and Závacký, this is no small or negligible business, however. They own one half of the plants each, and the state has guaranteed them the purchase price of electricity until 2026.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Slovakia marks 20 years since joining NATO.

Slovakia marks 20 years in the Alliance.


Daniel Hoťka and 1 more
Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad