The Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), which oversees public tenders in Slovakia, announced on February 13 that it had delivered to the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development the results of its investigation of the ministry's contract award on training, interpreting and organising workshops and other services, the TASR newswire wrote.
“The inspection has definitively not been completed yet. The inspected party is by law entitled to raise objections by February 27. The inspection will then be completed upon pronouncement on the ministry's objections and the signing of report,” said UVO spokesperson Helena Fialová.
Last year, media first broke the story alleging that the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development, headed by Marián Janušek, illegally awarded contracts worth €120 million to a consortium that included two firms Avocat and Zamedia that are close to SNS chairman Ján Slota. Janušek, who is an SNS nominee, is alleged to have awarded the contracts without properly putting the work out for tender.
Janušek dismissed media reports that he had violated the law. Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that he will wait for the results of the ÚVO inspection and then decide on whether to sack Janušek as called for by opposition parties, who failed in an ouster motion in December. 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.
16. Feb 2009 at 14:00
