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Lipsic: Those Beyond Latest SPF Scandal Ought to Face Music
Tuesday 01 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 1 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico dismissed the then Agriculture Minister Miroslav Jurena over a scandal surrounding land in Velky Slavkov (Presov region) two years ago, with the same ocurring now in a newly-emerged scandal concerning land in Velka Lomnica (also Presov region), head of Opposition KDH caucus Pavol Hrusovsky told a press conference on Tuesday.
SME daily reported on Tuesday that land restituents received land in the High Tatras that didn't originally belong to them via a land swap before selling it on immediately at a fraction of its market price to a company called GVM. The daily stated that GVM is linked to Coalition LS-HZDS party leader Vladimir Meciar and that it was 'Meciar's people' who helped the restituents to acquire the lucrative plots, The land was assigned to them by the Slovak Land Fund (SPF), now under the remit of Smer-SD, of which Fico is chairman.
According to the daily, SPF director Miroslav Mihalik (Smer) and his deputy Adrian Sandorcin (HZDS) signed a contract in September 2009 according to which restituents from Kosice region received land in the High Tatras covering an area of 1.6 million square metres that was located around 200 km from the plots that they should have received.
According to KDH vice-chairman Daniel Lipsic, the party will insist that people who are liable for this scandal should also face music, as was the case with Jurena as well as the then SPF chairman Branislav Briza. "Back then, the premier did his best to make it look like he had a solution," said KDH vice-chairman Daniel Lipsic.
However, the measures introduced by Fico failed to be efficient, added Lipsic. "The Government is behaving like a group of recividists," he noted.
Asked why KDH's nominee in SPF's supervisory board didn't bring up the scandal, Lipsic said that an individual in the body has no powers to look into specific cases, as only the board as a whole is endowed with this power.
He added that he doesn't expect the Parliament to oust Agriculture Minister Vladimir Chovan. "This Parliament will always back up this corrupt Government," he said, noting that a change can only be expected from next year's parliamentary election.
According to Opposition SDKU-DS party vice-chairman Ivan Miklos, the Velka Lomnica scandal is a breathtaking theft, while Fico is a stooge for the people orchestrating the theft.
"It's a re-run of the same thing. Plots of land are given to restituents who had their claims for land 160-170 kilometres away from Velka Lomnica," added SDKU party MP Pavol Freso.
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