Slovak News Back to the news
Stefanov Interrogated by Police Over Notice-board Tender
Thursday 04 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, March 4 (TASR) - Construction and Regional Minister Igor Stefanov has already been questioned by the police with respect to the so-called notice-board tender, TASR learnt on Thursday.
Stefanov said at the press conference following an inspection at the ministry carried out by Premier Robert Fico on the same day that nobody necessarily holds criminal responsibility in the case.
"I'm not sure whether there is any criminal responsibility," said Stefanov, who wasn't able to reveal any details of the ongoing inspection into the tender that is currently being carried out by the Supreme Audit Office (MKU), announcing only that the probe should be completed within the next few days.
"As soon as we get the protocol (from the probe), I'll convene a press conference and I'll acquaint you with the results," said Stefanov.
Fico said that the case won't affect the drawing of eurofunds by Slovakia. "For me it's important that - as I was told by the minister - the matter has been resolved vis-a-vis the European Commission, and doesn't in any way threaten the drawing of resources from the European Union. This is the most significant element," said Fico. "That's right," added Stefanov.
The Construction and Regional Development Ministry in 2007 announced a tender for supplying various legal and advertising services co-financed by EU Funds solely on a notice-board located within the ministry's headquarters. The ministry, which is run by the Slovak National Party (SNS), subsequently signed an agreement with the winning bidder - a consortium that included two companies called Zamedia and Avocat - and paid out part of the money for the services. It came to light later that both Zamedia and Avocat are close to SNS chairman Jan Slota and that the consortium's bid was extremely expensive.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
