A COMPANY with unclear ownership called Paywell, which won a public tender for verifying payments with so-called fuel cards for road tolls, has secured incomes amounting to tens of millions of euros by collecting 6.15 percent of each payment, according to Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) vice-chair Pavol Zajac at a press conference on November 24, the TASR newswire reported.
“This is several times as much as collected by banks for payments with credit cards,” said Zajac, as quoted by TASR, adding that Paywell presented the bid in the tender only one day after it was founded.
Zajac further said that Paywelli is owned by Cromwell company which final owner, the Evock Limited company, resides in Nicosia in Cyprus but the opposition KDH politicians connect it with the J&T financial group; Evock Limited resides at similar addresses as some companies from the Slovak group’s portfolio, according to the SITA newswire.
“It’s especially the links between this company and a certain financial group that are strange,” said Zajac, as quoted by TASR, adding that he would like to learn the name of the company’s real owner.
The National Highway Company (NDS) defends the tender, claiming that KDH is comparing things that cannot be compared.
“Despite the classic service of credit cards [using] charging the construction of complex autonomous system of authorisation terminals, centre for fees and software equipment is necessary condition to provide this service,” said NDS spokesperson Michal Fúrik, as quoted by SITA.
In its response Cromwell representatives said that the company has been active in the Slovak market for several years and it is not a shell company; it employs more than 550 people and has reached an annual turnover of almost €50 million.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Roman Cuprik from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
