Though Prime Minister Robert Fico has several times criticised the act of keeping money in tax havens, some ministers in his cabinet failed to answer a question recently posed by the Sme daily about whether they have accounts abroad.
Neither Defence Minister Martin Glváč, who also is a member of the Smer leadership, nor Finance Minister Peter Kažimír, revealed whether they or their families have money abroad. Fico does not have any money deposited in foreign banks, according to his press department and the spokesperson for President Ivan Gašparovič, Marek Trubač, says the same. Smer’s MEP Monika Flašíková-Beňová stated that neither she nor her husband, businessman Fedor Flašík, have money abroad.
As far as the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) is concerned, both its former chairman Mikuláš Dzurinda and former finance minister Ivan Mikloš say that neither they nor their family members have funds in foreign banks, Sme wrote. Former chairman of the SDKÚ district organisation in Nitra, Ondrej Ščurka, refused to answer the question. His firm Nitra Invest, which rented a building to the Košice tax office in the era of Iveta Radičová (2010-12), has a partner from Cyprus.
Sme did not receive a response from former transport minister nominated by the SDKÚ, Pavol Prokopovič, who is mentioned in the Gorilla file in connection with the privatisation of the Bratislava airport. He admitted in the past that he likes to spend holiday in Cyprus.
Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák of Smer told Sme that it is necessary to include information on accounts on foreign bank accounts in official property statements. The minister himself claims to have no foreign accounts.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ list of 130,000 persons who have accounts in offshore countries has made international waves, Sme wrote.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
