Slovakia won't try to claim an additional payment of €15 million from the notorious carbon-dioxide emissions quota deal with Interblue Group via legal action, Environment Minister József Nagy (Most-Híd) indicated on Thursday, December 16.
"We won't take action in commercial-legal terms, as we can't see any rational basis vis-à-vis the money being returned. We're transferring this directly to the criminal law level," said Nagy, adding that he is meeting the special prosecutor about the case this week.
For more information on the Interblue case, please see New revelations blow lid on Interblue puzzle.
According to Nagy, the emissions quota scandal has harmed Slovakia's international reputation. "Respectable buyers have a rather reserved attitude towards this," said Nagy, the TASR newswire reported, adding that Japan's Ambassador to Slovakia Yoshio Nomota has told him that Japanese companies have a problem when it comes to Slovakia's quotas.
Slovakia currently has unused quotas to emit 27 million tonnes of CO2 available to sell, with more than ten companies expressing an interest in them. The companies are playing a waiting game, however, claimed Nagy. There are signals that it won't be possible to carry the quotas over to the period after the Kyoto Protocol terminates, which means that their prices are falling on international markets.
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.
