Slovakia’s Tax Directorate has saved €3.5 million on the rental of one of its buildings in Košice, Miroslav Mikulčík, the chairman of the directorate told the TASR newswire. The lease is at the centre of the most recent clash between Smer party leader Robert Fico and Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš.
Fico charged that the Tax Directorate, headed by Mikloš's personal friend Mikulčík, earlier this year signed a contract on rental of a building in Košice with a company called Nitra Invest, owned by Ondrej Ščurka, the regional chair of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party and a Nitra council member. The five-year rental contract will amount to €6.6 million and Fico asserted that some of the money will end up with the SDKÚ.
When discussing the savings he said were made, Mikulčík used a comparison to a rental deal approved by the Tax Directorate's previous management. "We decided to go for the most effective and the less expensive solution,” he added. “I would easily sign such a deal even with the brother of the Smer chairman," said Mikulčík, alluding to the arrears in contributions to Sociálna Poisťovňa recorded by a construction firm owned by Ladislav Fico (Robert Fico’s brother).
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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