The contract between the Slovak parliament and Satur Travel agency for travel services and airline tickets cannot be terminated, according to Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulík, who responded on November 24 to recent articles in the Sme daily that were critical of the contract, the TASR newswire reported.
Satur Travel was co-owned by current opposition Smer MP Dušan Muňko before he passed his stake on to his wife and daughter. According to Sme, the previous management of parliament signed a three-year contract with Satur Travel for services worth €616,000. As much as €509,000 has been paid so far for tickets allowing MPs to fly on working trips abroad.
Sulík's comments are contradictory to those made by the daily – that the contract with Satur Travel can actually be terminated under certain conditions. He also corrected Sme's reports by stating that the contract was actually signed for four years, not three.
Sulík said he finds it insolent that the contract was signed only six months before the June general election. "It doesn't include any excessive overpricing, however. I've seen even worse and uglier contracts," he told TASR, adding that he wants to hold negotiations with the travel agency in an attempt to secure a better deal for parliament.
Source: 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.
25. Nov 2010 at 10:00
