After an inspection of its books and financial records, the 1998 losses of state-owned Slovak Rail (ŽSR) swelled to 9.31 billion Sk. The increase occurred when additional costs of 2.74 billion Sk were discovered.
The new total means that last year ŽSR lost 5.55 billion Sk more than projected at the outset of 1998. According to ŽSR spokesman Miloš Čikovský, the unfavorable results resulted mainly from uncovered losses from passenger transport and losses from financial operations.
According to police investigators in the eastern citry of Košice, however, the state railway's losses were partly due to the tunnelling activities of former ŽSR Director Bartolomej S. Investigators filed charges against Bartolomej S. in the last week of February, alleging that contracts signed by the railway in 1995, 1996 and 1997 did not involve public tenders and cost ŽSR far more than necessary.
