Trenčín
Ten people charged with betting fraud
Formula-tip offices closed for a day after a fraud scheme was uncovered.
photo: TASR
POLICE charged ten people with betting fraud on April 20.
The suspects were accused of tampering with the Formula-tip betting company's systems, causing losses of at least Sk17 million (€508,000), the TASR news wire wrote.
"According to the investigation so far, an unauthorized person got into the company's software and changed tickets that had already been submitted," said Lenka Bušová from the Trenčín police department.
As part of a long-term operation led by the Trenčín police, officers raided the Formula-tip headquarters in Povazská Bystrica (Žilina Region) and 50 of the company's betting offices in other Slovak towns on the night of April 19.
"We found the modified winning tickets, computer data, computers, printers and documents," said Bušová.
The judge at the Trenčín District Court refused to release four statutory representatives and two employees on bail. Their lawyer offered Sk200,000 for each of them.
The accused are eight men and two women, aged between 20 and 64, who are statutory representatives, partners and employees of the company. The ten have been charged as an organized crime group and, if found guilty, could face prison sentences of seven to 12 years.
Formula-tip was established in 1991 in Považská Bystrica. With more than 280 betting offices, it is one of the largest bookies in Slovakia.
Poltár
Drunk ambulance driver crashes, killing patient
AN INTOXICATED ambulance driver crashed into a truck at a crossroad in the village of Kalinovo, eastern Slovakia, on April 17, killing an 86-year-old female patient from Zlatno.
The 51-year-old driver was carrying four patients in the ambulance at the time. A 77-year-old woman from Kalinovo suffered serious injuries in the crash, and a 63-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, both from Poltár, sustained light injuries, Mária Faltániová, spokesperson of the Banská Bystrica police department, told the TASR news wire.
The police measured 2.3 per mille alcohol on the driver's breath.
The driver caused Sk200,000 of damage to the ambulance and Sk20,000 of damage to the truck that he hit. The breath test in the truck driver's case was negative.
The court has put the driver into custody. He faces imprisonment of four to ten years.
Vráble
Bronze Age site is Europe's largest
A TEAM of Slovak and German archaeologists has confirmed the Bronze Age settlement in Fidvár Zemný Hrad area near Vráble is the biggest one found yet, the TASR news wire wrote.
According to research published in early April by the team, led by Slovak Jozef Bátora, Vráble is the most significant Bronze Age site in the continent.
The settlement covers about 20 hectares and is bigger than both Mycenae and Troy in Asia Minor.
The settlement is around 3,000 years old.
"In Europe, villages of around 100 inhabitants have been found," Bátora said. "This settlement, however, had as many as 1,000 inhabitants."
The circular village, 220 metres in diameter, was protected by three ditches and had several huts outside. Craftsmen's workshops were located directly in the village.
During their latest study, archaeologists collected samples from the surface and made precise measurements of the prehistoric village. A three-month dig is due to take place next year as part of a five-year research project. The project is being financed by the German side.
The site was discovered in the middle of the 19th century. The last examinations of the site took place in 1967.
Strážky
SNG retains ownership of Chateau Strážky
CHATEAU STRÁŽKY and several hectares of surrounding land in eastern Slovakia's Kežmarok District will remain in the hands of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) and will continue to serve as an exhibition venue.
After more than 15 years of deliberation, the Supreme Court ruled on April 19 against a request originally made by Countess Magdaléna Sztárayová and now represented by her heiress, Anna Lubyová of Košice, that the property be signed over to her as its rightful owner. This was the biggest restitution dispute Slovakia has seen with a property worth several million crowns at stake.
Sztárayová had requested the return of many works of art by Ladislav Medňanský, which were hidden in the chateau after the Second World War. Later, she requested that the chateau and its land be turned over to her as well, said Anton Blaho, the lawyer who represented the
SLOVAKIA'S WOMEN'S tennis team was whitewashed by the Czech Republic during the Fed Cup World Group II series played at the National Tennis Centre in Bratislava from April 21 to 22. The Slovak team lost all matches against its Czech rivals, who in the end defeated Slovakia 5-0. Slovak player Daniela Hantuchová (above) lost the third match of the series to Czech Nicol Vaidišová on April 22.
photo: ČTK
SNG in the dispute.
"I am very glad that the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed the verdict of the Regional Court in Prešov and did not acknowledge plaintiff Anna Lubyová's right to the chateau and adjacent plots," said Blaha.
The regional court in Kežmarok already ruled in the past that Lubyová, as heiress, did not meet the necessary conditions to have a right to the property. The Supreme Court also ruled that Lubyová did not have a right to the property.
The chateau was in desolate condition after the Second World War until the state completely renovated it in late 1960s. It is now the property of the SNG and hosts an exhibition of paintings by Medňanský, who had a very close relation to the place.
Some time ago, the SNG agreed to return a small portion of the inheritance to Countess Sztárayová. A significant part of the historical library from the 17th century, including works by Medňanský, miniatures and other period items, remained in the possession of the state.
The Association of Ladislav Medňanský, launched around the same time, arranged to rent some of the painter's works from the chateau's last countess, Margita Czobelová (who lived at the chateau until her death in 1972), for a symbolic yearly fee of one crown.
Medňanský (or Mednyánszky in Hungarian) was born in 1852 to an aristocratic family in Beckov, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time. Today the town is located in western Slovakia. Neither truly Slovak nor Hungarian, Medňanský's origin can be considered as European as his work. Strážky, which belonged to his family, was his only stable studio. He died in Vienna in 1919.
Bratislava
Autosalón Car show wraps up
Bratislava's Incheba hosted the European premiere of Nissan's Tiida model.
photo: TASR
MORE THAN 200,000 people and 230 exhibitors attended the Autosalón Bratislava international car show at the Incheba exhibition centre, which finished on April 22.
No fewer than 56 new models made their Slovak debut at the event, with the Japanese Nissan Tiida appearing for the first time ever in Europe.
The Autosalón exhibition in the Slovak capital was held immediately after its counterpart in Geneva, from which many manufacturers brought their wares to Bratislava, including the Škoda Fabia, which is one of the country's most popular cars.
New models were featured by Slovakia's recent auto investors, such as Kia, Peugeot and Volkswagen, who have put Slovakia on the car-production map by investing billions of crowns into the country's automobile industry.
Fossils of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures are on display at Aupark.
photo: SITA
Bratislava
Dinosaurs walk the earth at Aupark
THE AUPARK shopping mall in Petržalka is hosting an exhibition of dinosaurs' skeletons from Patagonia.
Shoppers have a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of life on Earth as it was some 10 million years ago.
Aupark was turned into a museum with the help of the Egidio Feruglio Paleontology Museum in Argentina and the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava.
The exhibition will continue until May 20.
