Economy Ministry’s State Secretary Martin Chren (Freedom and Solidarity-SaS) remains in his post, that's the upshot of the impromptu press conference called by Prime Minister Iveta Radičová (Slovak democratic and Christian Union-SDKÚ) and Speaker of Parliament and SaS leader Richard Sulík on Monday, December 20.
Shortly after the new government took office a bit of turmoil ensued over a contract signed with Hayek Consulting while Chren and Ivan Svejna (who resigned over the affair) were installed as state secretaries. A report issued by the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) earlier in the day declared that state money had been squandered on contracts with Hayek Consulting, TASR wrote.
"I have delegated the decision on the state secretary to the SaS chairman personally," said Radičová as quoted by the TASR newswire. "No request to dismiss him (Chren) came from my mouth."
The results of the NKU audit provide no reason for Chren to step down from his post, said Sulík.
"Me, personally, I am taking responsibility for Martin Chren when it comes to his job at the Economy Ministry," he said.
However, both Radičová and Sulík conceded that there were doubts surrounding commissions between the state and the company Hayek Consulting, which Chren previously co-owned. The NKÚ audit report states that resources from the budgets of the Finance Ministry and the National Agency for Development of Small and Medium Entreprises (NADSME) were not used economically.
