Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová. (source: TASR)
On Tuesday, Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (SNS nominee) dismissed Monuments Office director Pavel Ižvolt. He was replaced by archaeologist Mario Comisso on Wednesday, chosen by the minister herself. Ižvolt will remain at the office as a regular employee.
Sme daily reports that by doing so, Šimkovičová may have bypassed the legal procedure. Although she didn't need anyone's approval, she had to hear out the opinion of the Monument Board she had appointed. Nor had she authorised any ministry representative to discuss the candidate with this board. Even so, she didn't have to follow the board's opinion.
The board chair and architect Pavol Pauliny thought that the minister would only entrust Comisso with management. He does not agree with his appointment as director and considers the move illegal under the Monuments Act as no one told the board about Comisso. However, the ministry rejects it and says that legal requirements for the replacement were met.
Dubious reputation
Regardless of the circumstances, Comisso already has a dubious reputation among his colleagues.
In 2015, Comisso's company 376 A.D. was contracted for an archaeological survey of the area for the future Jaguar Land Rover car plant in Nitra and received a licence. The company worked inconsistently and fast, drawing criticism from the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. When he did not hand over finds from several surveys, the licence was revoked. The company was co-owned by Brazilian archaeologist Marcus Comotti via companies based in London and the US tax haven of Delaware.
Comisso also worked with Comotti in the latter's limited liability company Archaeoservices. The company won the call for archaeological surveys in connection to several highway sections and later asked for additional €9 million for the surveys.
The latter man was later investigated by the Slovak police for withholding state property.
Comisso firmly denied media reports suggesting he had been involved in any legal violations during his career.
"There have never been, nor are there currently, any administrative or other proceedings against me as an individual, or against companies I have worked with, for breaches of the heritage protection law," he stressed, as quoted by the daily Sme.
Archaeologist Mário Comisso. (source: Korzár - Michal Frank)
Another appointment
According to Comisso, he has no plans to scrap individual regional monuments offices or the Monuments Office itself and rejects any notion of cancelling monument preservation research or work in the field of preservation research.
The Monuments Office will undergo a personnel, financial and property audit in the coming months. Decision-making across the various regional monuments offices should be streamlined.
"I see the need for changes to the heritage protection law, but this must be preceded by expert discussion and a proper legislative process,” Comisso said. “We will certainly look for inspiration in neighbouring countries – the Czech Republic and Austria, where we can see very good results in practice.”
In the past few months, the Culture Ministry has come under scrutiny for a series of controversial appointments to the leadership positions of cultural institutions.
These include the Slovak National Theatre (SND), the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), the Slovak National Museum, as well as the State Scientific Library in Prešov, eastern Slovakia.
The decision to dismiss SNG director Alexandra Kusá and SND director Matej Drlička sparked mass protests after the minister failed to provide a convincing explanation for her decision. In the coming months she would come up with several reasons for doing so.
