Daniel Lipšic, leader of the New Majority (NOVA) party, says he has dismissed Ján Feranc, one of the owners of the Regional Procurement Agency (ROA), as a party member. ROA was granted the right by the Interior Ministry to handle procurement on behalf of the ministry and more than 20 other state organisations, but was subsequently criticised in the media when the deal became public. He became a member of NOVA only a few days before the media reports emerged, the Etrend.sk website wrote on April 30.
“He was a member for about a week, [but] as soon as we found out that he stands behind the agency, we dismissed him,” Lipšic told Etrend.sk.
He added that the person who recommended Feranc to the party has also had to leave.
Lipšic says he did not know Feranc in person. Since he does not check all the party’s members, he admitted that in future some other person with what he called a murky past might also join the party, Etrend.sk wrote.
Feranc owns the company TenderOnline, which together with the municipality of Horné Plachtince owns ROA. The company was responsible for various tenders, including one for PR and consultancy services worth up to €130 million. But after ROA made media headlines in late April for that deal, which critics described as potentially fraudulent, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák, whose ministry is responsible for state procurement, moved to distance himself from the firm and said his ministry – although it appointed ROA in the first place – would not do business with the winners of the tender it had held. He also advised other agency to terminate their cooperation with ROA.
Source: Etrend.sk
To read more about this story please see: Small village plus big money equals trouble
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
