The paper Sme claims to have evidence of a second secret account set up at the Privatisation Ministry in 1996 under the Mečiar government, through which land and property was sold cheaply to political allies and friends.
Records on the account were kept by hand in a notebook, the paper writes, with the money from the sales going to pay bonuses for ministry officials, as well as to support the now defunct Slovenská Republika paper, which was close to the government.
The paper cites a 1997 report by the Supreme Audit Office and a current ministry official, Jana Filinová, for its information.
Sme last week revealed the Mečiar government had illegally channeled Sk12 billion ($270 million) in state privatisation money through another Privatisation Ministry account. It is not yet clear how much money was sent through the notebook fund.
