Tom Nicholson - author - page 9 - The Slovak Spectator

Tom Nicholson

Tom Nicholson has been with The Slovak Spectator since 1997. He was appointed editor-in-chief in 1998, and publisher in 2001. After taking a leave from the paper from 2002 to 2004, he rejoined it as publisher and as editor of the SPEX magazine. In March 2007 he left the Spectator to lead an investigative program at the SME daily paper. He continues to cooperate with the Spectator. He holds a master’s degree in history from Queen’s University in Canada, and has worked for the Whig Standard and National Post dailies in that country.

List of author's articles, page 9

What will the new owners of the Mitická plant do with it?

Ruling casts doubt on plant's future

IN SLOVAKIA, caveat emptor is more than just a phrase. Lawyers urge potential investors to take extra care when buying real estate, because what is written on a property deed may not be valid. Past clerical or legal errors during the sale of a piece of property can result in your losing title to it, even if you bought it in good faith. This is precisely what happened to the producer of Mitická mineral water near Trenčín in western Slovakia. On October 14, the Trenčín Regional Court upheld a lower court decision and awarded the production halls and the water borehole of the Mitická operation to Libor Jakšík, a man whose name appeared on a list of suspected organised crime figures leaked from the Bratislava police in 2005.

Tom Nicholson

Stop the presses - Slovakia gets lucky

PART of being a young and small country is that your major sports achievements get dissected for what they say about the national psyche. Slovakia's qualifying for the football World Cup with an improbable away-from-home victory against Poland on October 14 was one of those moments.

Tom Nicholson

Did family ties help win state grants?

WHEN Cesta životom (Path of Life), a nonprofit organisation set up in eastern Slovakia’s Humenné to help recovering drug addicts, won a €35,000 grant from the Labour Ministry earlier this year, the award attracted little attention. Last month, however, it was reported that the non-profit was founded by Jana Vaľová, an MP for the ruling Smer party, and had its headquarters at her home address.

Tom Nicholson

Some security firms have criminal links

A DECADE ago, chances were that if you opened a pub or nightclub in a larger Slovak town, you could expect a visit from the local mafia, offering you the “protection” services of a certain private security company. To refuse was to invite a beating or worse – to have your business wrecked or set on fire.

Tom Nicholson

Elite policemen are among those being held after a brothel near Bratislava was raided.

SWAT officers to remain in jail after brothel bust

TEN people charged with living off the proceeds of prostitution remain in custody after their appeal to be released was rejected by the Bratislava Regional Court. The prosecution alleges that for more than a year they confiscated money from prostitutes working at the Oáza brothel in Senec near Bratislava. They were arrested during a sweep on June 18.

Tom Nicholson

Arrests in prostitution bust

FOUR Slovaks are in custody in Bratislava awaiting extradition to France after police claimed to have busted a major European on-line prostitution ring.

Tom Nicholson

Health care debt money misused after 2006

A FINANCE Ministry report presented to Slovakia’s cabinet on July 8 has finally silenced the Fico government’s claims that its predecessor misused funds in paying off debt in the health care sector. The ministry’s auditors said they found “no serious deficiencies” in the accounts of Veriteľ, the state company used to retire Sk36 billion (€1.2 billion) in bills owed by hospitals and health insurance companies between 2003 and 2006. According to documents obtained by The Slovak Spectator, serious questions remain over how the Ministry of Health under the current government spent at least a quarter of the Sk650 million (€12 million) that was left over from the liquidation of Veriteľ in June 2006.

Tom Nicholson

Secret army data lost

AS IF THE Taliban were not enough, Slovak military police serving in Afghanistan now face a new threat – their personal data, including their home addresses, could have wound up in the hands of their enemies.

Tom Nicholson

'The world is watching'

CLAIRE PIERANGELO, the head of the US State Department’s newly created Central Europe bureau, says she has been trying to visit Slovakia since being appointed to her post last August. But her words on corruption, transparency and minority rights come at an oddly appropriate time, given recent events in this country. The Slovak Spectator interviewed her on May 28.

Tom Nicholson

Ministry favoured single bidder, says insider

THE DEFENCE Ministry is planning to buy two military transport aircraft for €80 million even though the manufacturer, Alenia of Italy, won the deal in a tender in which it submitted the only bid.

Tom Nicholson

Primitivism – The second coming

ANYONE who drives at over 100 kilometres per hour in a 50-zone is making a statement, as clear as if he were driving along with his middle finger extended out the window: I don’t care about your safety or that of your family or pets; I don’t care about your neighbourhood or your right to enjoy your garden without cars roaring by; I don’t care about the laws of this country or the people who enforce them.

Tom Nicholson

Sri Lankans celebrate victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Slovak ministries defend Sri Lanka arms deal

THE MILITARY phase of Sri Lanka’s 25-year-long civil conflict may be over, but questions remain over Slovakia’s decision last year to approve a shipment of 10,000 rockets to that country’s armed forces. The deal appeared to violate the European Union’s Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, to which Slovakia is a signatory.

Tom Nicholson

Lucrative project attracted mafia

ACCORDING to police information, entrepreneur Ján Daniš was asked to help finance the Royal Golf Resort project near Veľký Biel. Daniš was a business partner of Bratislava mobster Peter Steinhübel, who was murdered in 1999.

Tom Nicholson

Police raids are latest hurdle for golf project

IT WAS a beautiful dream – a 27-hole golf course only 20 kilometres from Bratislava offering housing for several thousand people across 232 hectares. A renowned Canadian architect was called in to design the site, which was to cost €200 million to build, and ground was to be broken in 2009.

Tom Nicholson

She should have stayed

FOR ALL those cheering Iveta Radičová’s decision to quit parliament, or claiming it was the only choice she had, here’s a question – what country do you live in?

Tom Nicholson

More investments coming after crisis eases

HAN Seung-soo, the prime minister of South Korea, became the first leader of that country to visit Slovakia in late April.

Tom Nicholson

Mečiar patrons sponsored Estonian party

TWO businessmen close to Vladimír Mečiar, leader of the ruling coalition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party, have shown up among the largest donors of the main opposition party in Estonia, Keskerakond.

Tom Nicholson

Forget about EU funding

IMAGINE that you owned a small vodka distillery, and that the labels on your bottles are often damaged by workers as they handle the product. You might decide to buy a machine that will prevent damage to the labels, and thus make your company more competitive. You might also hire an experienced adviser to draw up a project, and with this project apply for Sk2 million (€65,000) in European Union funds from the Ministry of Economy.

Tom Nicholson

The military still guards some of its own sites.

Private security firm guarding military facilities

THE DEFENCE Ministry has signed a contract for €2.2 million (Sk67 million) with the DUG firm of Rimavská Sobota in eastern Slovakia for guarding empty military buildings. According to police, the son of one of the owners of the company is a senior member of an organised crime gang operating in Bratislava, known as the Piťovci.

Tom Nicholson

The boys were made to slap each other in the face

All quiet after Roma abuse videos

Six policemen accused of humiliating Roma children in a Košice police station last month have been fired and charged with misconduct. A seventh officer is on sick leave and cannot be disciplined until he returns.

Tom Nicholson

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