Transport Minister and Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) chairman Ján Figeľ said he believes the media focus on the financing of his flat to be part of the pre-municipal-election period, he said in Brussels on Tuesday, October 5. Figeľ said his purchase of the flat in Bratislava’s old town in 2003 is a personal matter.
“I submitted the application for the flat in 1996 as a father of three children and a person who travels a lot – in order to stabilise the situation in my family, living in a third rented apartment already. The application was assessed by councillors of Bratislava Old Town, I have not breached any rules,” he said. The Sme daily on Tuesday reported civic activist Kristián Straka as claiming that Bratislava councillors allocated apartments in the high-end area of the capital to one another.
According to the daily, the practice has been going on for years and was used to secure Figeľ his four-room flat. In 2001, under the KDH-affiliated mayor of Bratislava Andrej Ďurkovský, the KDH-dominated council of Bratislava’s Old Town district agreed to lease the flat to him. Renting councils are later required to offer to sell their flats to the tenant. This was also the case with Figeľ, who bought his 156-square-metre flat for Sk54,390 (€1,813); it is now worth several hundred thousand euros.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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