The Open Society Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, presented the results of its INFOčin roka (INFOaction of the Year) contest, which monitors positive and negative examples of the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act on September 28, as reported by the SITA newswire.
The foundation granted its prize called the Enemy Deed of the Year to the Transport Ministry along with the National Highway Company (NDS) for their effort to conceal from the press the highway toll collection contract, Viktória Mlynarčíkova from the NGO told SITA.
The company SkyToll established by the winning consortium SanToll - Ibertax succeeded in the tender to supply and operate the electronic toll collection system. The group SanToll-Ibertax – with the highest of the four submitted bids – was the sole company that remained in the competition after the NDS excluded the remaining three bidders it had originally shortlisted. NDS did not make the contract public until reacting to the pressure of media, opposition and following the approval of the winner to make its contents public.
The second prize concerns the length of the legal case of the audio recording of the first session of Robert Fico’s cabinet from July 2006. This year, the Bratislava Regional Court, which dismissed the complaint against the cabinet office, won the prize.
The former Environment Minister, Viliam Turský, won the third prize for his efforts to conceal from the press the information on the price and the amount of Slovakia's excess CO2 emissions quotas sold to the Interblue Group. The case of emission quotas sale cost the heads of two environment ministers.
The foundation also awarded a Friendly Deed of the Year prize to the municipality of Žilina for a transparent and modern internet website, featuring an English version and a version for citizens with poor eyesight. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
