JÁN Slota, the chairman of the ruling Slovak National Party (SNS), said that Slovakia would probably take the Italian company Enel to court over the privatization of a 66-percent stake in the country's major energy producer, Slovenské Elektrárne (SE).
Slota said that there is "so much dirt" in the SE sale contract that the SNS could no longer remain inactive, the SITA news wire wrote.
Slota said his party wanted to have the contract audited because was “absolutely disadvantageous for Slovakia”. He said that his party would do its utmost to have the contract changed, at least the part relating to the lease of the Gabčíkovo waterworks to Enel. Slota is convinced that the agreement on the lease of Gabčíkovo was a “gigantic fraud”.
According to an Environment Ministry analysis, Enel receives the electricity produced at Gabčíkovo basically "free-of-charge", while Slovakia loses Sk1.5 billion to Sk2 billion annually on the deal.
The sale of the SE stake to Enel was completed at the end of April 2006. Enel paid €839 million for the shares (Sk31.5 billion). The remaining 34 percent remain in the hands of the National Property Fund privatization agency.
