The European Commission has allegedly nominated Anna Bubeníková, former head of the National Property Fund (FNM) privatisation agency, to the post of adviser to Greece on privatisation. Bubeníková was reportedly recommended by former finance minister and current MP for the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Ivan Mikloš in July 2011, the TASR newswire reported.
Private TV Markíza broadcast the news regarding Bubeníková’s new post on Thursday, August 2. The former FNM head is one of the main names featured in the Gorilla file, a document containing the alleged transcriptions of recordings made by the SIS intelligence agency which pertain to high-level political corruption between the years 2005-6. She was dismissed from her post in January 2012.
“According to our findings, this is the nomination of the former minister, who recommended Bubeníková to the post of advisor on the Greek Privatisation Fund Council via his then-Eurogroup representative Martin Brunck,” reads the statement released by the Finance Ministry on August 3, adding that the nomination was passed neither by the government nor parliament.
Meanwhile, Andrej Králik, spokesperson for the Representation Office of the EC in Slovakia, confirmed the information that Bubeníková was appointed a member on the panel of privatisation experts in July 2011. The committee was established by the EC, European Central Bank and European Currency Fund, with the task of providing advice to Greece on how to privatise its national property.
Králik added that members of the council should meet certain criteria not only in terms of expertise but also ethics and morality. Yet, he refused to specify whether or not her tenure would be subject to any re-evaluation, TASR wrote.
Meanwhile, Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) MP Alojz Hlina took a copy of the recently published book Gorilla by Slovak-Canadian journalist Tom Nicholson, who is the former editor-in-chief of The Slovak Spectator, to the Greek Embassy in Slovakia.
Hlina believes that the book contains several statements that could be of interest to Greece, adding that the Greeks should know about the alleged background of the person who is to help them pay back their debts, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
