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House Asks NKU to Review Deals between State and Hayek Consulting
Wednesday 13 Octtber 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, October 13 (TASR) - The Supreme Audit Office (NKU) will look into contracts signed between the Finance Ministry, the Economy Ministry-led National Agency for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (NADSME) and Hayek Consulting during the 2007-10 period, according to a proposal that Slovak Parliament approved at its session on Wednesday.
The initiative, which has been submitted by Parliamentary Chairman Richard Sulik (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS), received the backing of 135 MPs.
A decision to have the deals reviewed by NKU was first announced by Prime Minister Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS) on September 24. The inspection is aimed at finding out whether or not money spent by state institutions in contracts with Hayek Consulting were spent in an efficacious manner.
"If NKU doesn't deem these contracts transparent, based on my evaluation of the protocol released by NKU, the state secretaries will resign," Radicova said last week. Indeed, Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry State Secretary Ivan Svejna (Most-Hid) has already resigned over the affair, which also involved Economy Ministry State Secretary Martin Chren (SaS). When Svejna stepped down on Friday he said the move was designed to protect both the party and his former colleagues from the F.A. Hayek Foundation.
Hayek Consulting, which falls under the umbrella Hayek Foundation and is co-owned by Svejna and Chren, was awarded an €8,100 contract with the Economy Ministry-led National Agency for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (NADSME) only days after both Chren and Svejna were appointed state secretaries by the new Cabinet, which took office on July 9. In mid-August Chren and Svejna disposed of their property interests and terminated the contract in question.
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