An agreement has been reached between the Defence Ministry and Sitno Holding, a private company, on how the €70,000 loan that the Nováky Military Maintenance Company (VOP), a state-run company, received from Sitno last year should be settled, Prime Minister Iveta Radičová told the TASR newswire on January 16.
Radičová, also heading the Defence Ministry after the dismissal of former minister Ľubomír Galko late last year, went on to say that both parties agreed that VOP will terminate the contract that would have allowed Sitno to sell VOP's property if loan payments were not made on schedule.
The Sme daily wrote that Radičová had also increased the state order for VOP to decommission anti-aircraft ammunition. From the €1.3 million for that order, VOP can repay its €70,000 debt to Sitno Holding, which is owned by Ľudovít Černák, a former economy minister.
TASR also reported that Radičová announced later in the day that she will sign the VOP general assembly's decision to appoint Jozef Briestenský from the Defence Ministry's equipment department as the new chairman of VOP’s board. This follows Radičová’s dismissal of VOP’s former chairman, Ľubomír Repčík, and its entire supervisory board on January 11.
VOP borrowed €70,000 from Sitno in September and October in order to pay its employees' salaries. Only a few weeks later, Repčík signed a contract with Černák that allowed Sitno to sell VOP's property pledged in return for the loan. The property included nine storage areas and one of the four production halls that process ammunition.
Source: TASR, Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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