Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ MP Viliam Novotný became the new parliamentary Conflict of Interest Committee chairman on December 17, replacing his party colleague Miroslav Beblavý who decided to leave the party and resigned from his committee post on December 16. In a secret ballot, Novotny received 103 votes from the 122 lawmakers present.
Beblavý stepped down after he was requested to do so by SDKÚ, which lays claim to the post.
“I respect it,” Beblavý said as quoted by the TASR newswire. “Over the year and eight months that I held the post, I endeavoured to lend meaning to the committee. I sought to boost public trust in that even people of power and influence have to face the music when transgressing the law.”
The committee had success in, for example, imposing record-high penalties - between €30,000-40,000 - on senior managers of the National Highway Company (NDS) for abusing their powers, he added.
Beblavý walked out of SDKÚ last week along with the party’s caucus chair Lucia Žitňanská and fellow MP Magdalena Vášáryová.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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