Slovakia has already paid €9.96 million to the winner of the now-cancelled bulletin-board contract, Construction Minister Igor Štefanov said on April 29, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Even though the winning consortium – Zamedia, Consulting & Management, European Consultants Organisation and Avocat, of which Avocat and Zamedia are allegedly close to both Štefanov’s and his predecessor Marian Janušek's political party SNS – agreed with the contract being cancelled, the consortium will not return the money it has received.
“Why should we be get anything back? If you buy bread in a shop, eat it and then you say that it wasn't good, will you ask for your money back?” Minister Štefanov told TASR, adding that the ministry is still negotiating with the consortium on the final agreement.
The government passed a resolution on April 23 binding the construction minister to take all necessary steps to achieve annulment of the contract.
“The money [paid to the consortium] was used for supplying services that enabled the drawing of euro-funds to get off the ground. Whether people like it or not,” said Štefanov. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
