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Sicakova-Beblava Repudiates Fico's Statements on TIS's Bias
Wednesday 27 Octtber 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, October 27 (TASR) - Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) is a professional, non-partisan organisation that has been active in Slovakia for over 12 years, with TIS's professionalism attested to by each of its statements, the organisation's former long-time head and currently its programme director Emilia Sicakova-Beblava said on Wednesday.
She was speaking in reaction to statements made by Opposition Smer-SD party chairman and former premier Robert Fico earlier in the day about TIS being sheerly a political institution and a branch of major governing SDKU-DS party.
Sicakova-Beblava said that she's unaware of any of her or TIS's statements leaning towards any political party. The organisation's statements are based on facts and research, not emotions, she said.
If Fico – now out of office – wants to receive advice concerning electronic auctions or how to foster transparency in the public sector, TIS is ready to help, she added. "But far be it from me to let myself or the organisation, which I built up over several years, get dragged into a purely emotional, party-tinged and unprofessional discourse," she said.
Speaking earlier in the day, Fico said that Smer will send a letter to the headquarters of Transparency International in Berlin to officially protest over what the party deems as the politicisation of the organisation's Slovak branch.
Fico's comments came in the wake of the release of the organisation's 2009 annual report, with the document indicating that Slovakia's corruption rating has fallen (i.e. worsened) by 0.2 points to 4.2, with the country dropping five places in the global table and receiving the worst score among the Visegrad Four (V4) countries.
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