State-run lottery company Tipos will file a constitutional appeal in the next few days in response to a ruling by the Supreme Court dated November 2010 whereby Tipos was ordered to pay Cyprus-based company Lemikon €14.122 million, the TASR newswire reported on Tuesday, April 26.
The Supreme Court found that Tipos had unlawfully used the know-how and trademarks of Czech betting company Sportka. Sportka subsequently sold its claim in the case to Lemikon. Tipos said it believes the rationale attached to the ruling is insufficient and disputable vis-a-vis the Slovak Constitution. "We'll submit a constitutional appeal on the grounds that the company's rights to court protection, particularly the constitutionally guaranteed right to fair court proceedings, were infringed. This right also includes the right to a high-quality rationale behind a court ruling," said Tipos general director Miloš Ronec, adding that the rationale spans a mere four pages out of a verdict document covering more than 100 pages. Ronec also announced that Tipos expects Lemikon to pay Tipos around €1.9 million in view of the fact that Tipos in the past paid Lemikon around €16 million in an out-of-court settlement, i.e. some €1.9 million more than the sum awarded by the Supreme Court.
Ronec also said that the company has filed another proposal to restructure the company after one such proposal was rejected by the Bratislava I District Court last week. The application was turned down over what the court called the failure to observe requirements prescribed by law. Tipos has been looking to carry out restructuring in order to gain protection from its creditors, whose claims, Tipos asserts, are dubious.
Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš has described the whole dispute as comprising fraudulent efforts to do Slovakia out of tens of millions of euros. He also heaped blame on his predecessor in office, Ján Počiatek, for what he called a failure to act in the public interest. Ronec and Mikloš agreed that Tipos won't face with bankruptcy even if it eventually does have to settle Lemikon's claims.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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