Agriculture Minister Zdenka Kramplová (ĽS-HZDS party) said on April 23 that she didn't know a company called GVM, has never come across it, and "doesn't know why it's being linked to LS-HZDS party."
By way of example, she said that if the ministry provided some subsidy from EU funds to farmers, all who receive it would then have to have close links to ĽS-HZDS, the TASR newswire wrote.
"And we would then have to have a huge number of members," she added.
The suspicious transaction relating to a plot in the village of Veľká Lomnica in the High Tatras - allegedly acquired by GVM company - has recently caused a stir in Slovakia's political scene, with the opposition alleging that the government is trying to hide shady business deals.
According to information that appeared in the media, 675,000 square metres of lucrative land in Veľká Lomnica was sold to GVM - a company said to be close to HZDS chairman Vladimír Mečiar - through a land-restitution deal for just Sk3 million (Sk92,500), despite the fact that the plot is said to be worth as much as Sk1 billion (Sk30.8 million).
GVM also featured in the case of sale of the land in Veľký Slavkov (also in the High Tatras) gained through restitution. The Veľký Slavkov deal resulted in the dismissal of agriculture Miroslav Jureňa and the vice-director of the Slovak Land Fund (SPF) Branislav Briza. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
