(source: Sme)
Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák of Smer is obviously able to be in two places simultaneously, as he was signing the transfer of a stake in a company called FoRest in Bratislava and visiting the Balkans at the same time, Fair-play Alliance (AFP), the non-governmental ethics watchdog reported on June 22.
Robert Kaliňák has been misusing his post to enrich himself. He and ex-minister of finance and transport Jan Počiatek of Smer bought a stake in a firm called FoRest on June 5, 2012 for one euro each while the real value was around €37,000. That is capitalisation by 1.85 million percent. They paid for it by letting taxpayers pay it for them, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Jozef Rajtár described the transaction during a press conference coming on the heels of AFP revelations, the TASR newswire reported.
“They gave a post at the Interior Ministry to Robert Pinter, from whom they bought the stake, as they created a post for him there,” Rajtár said, as quoted by TASR.
OĽaNO-NOVA leader Igor Matovič stressed that according to the Business Register, the transaction was carried out on June 5, 2012. On that day Kaliňák, Počiatek, lawyer Marek Turčan and Pinter met at 9:00 in Bratislava to sign the protocol for a general assembly on shares being transferred with a 99.99-percent discount. However, Kaliňák was in Croatia and Montenegro on June 4 and 5, 2012. This is officially stated in an Interior Ministry press release that includes pictures from the trip.
“How is it that when he was in Croatia on June 4, from where he went directly to Montenegro, with an all-day agenda there, he managed to attend a general meeting in Bratislava on the morning of same day and signed for the stake's transfer,” asked Matovič, as quoted by TASR.
In light of this, Matovič invited everyone to a second protest in front of the Bonaparte residential complex in Bratislava in order to call for Kaliňák’s dismissal.
“We mustn’t allow people like this to rule us,” Matovič said, as quoted by TASR.
Meanwhile, on June 24 the opposition will hand over signatures for convening a special parliamentary session with a no-confidence motion in Kaliňák on the agenda.
OĽaNO-NOVA MP and former Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic said that the tangible and intangible assets department at the Interior Ministry, which is currently headed by Pinter, has never existed separately before and was previously under the remit of the economy department.
“There was a need to create a new [department] because Pinter was a business partner, and he was immediately given the rank of major,” said Lipšic, as quoted by TASR. “It is unacceptable for the business partners of ministers of this cabinet to be rewarded like this.”
People should pray that no one in Great Britain, where the referendum concerning Brexit is currently under way, learns what government rules are in place in Slovakia and how things are investigated there, according to SaS MP Alojz Baránik.
“If a country like this were to preside over the EU, it would be unacceptable for the British,” said Baránik, as quoted by TASR referring to Slovakia’s upcoming presidency of the EU Council.
