BRATISLAVA, October 6, (WEBNOVINY) — Transport Minister and leader of the Christian Democrats (KDH) Jan Figel will give up his flat which was allocated to him in Bratislava Old town and which he bought later. “I want this flat to serve some charity purpose, I will not be its long-term owner,” stated Figel after the regular Cabinet session on Wednesday. “I have this inner belief that at the end of our life we will be left only with what we handed out,” Figel explained his decision.
On Tuesday, the SME daily brought story on long-term practice of local deputies and officials allocating communal homes to themselves in the Bratislava Old Town, where the real estate prices are the highest in the capital. Several politicians, including current KDH Chairman Jan Figel received a flat in this way, wrote the daily. The Old Town approved rental of a four-room flat to Figel in 2001. The Old Town mayor was that time Andrej Durkovsky who is now Bratislava Mayor and parliamentary deputy for the KDH. The KDH chairman claims that no contacts and not acquaintances helped him to acquire the flat. “No, no special contacts, many people got flats in those years,” he said. After two years of renting the flat, the KDH leader bought the flat with an area of 156 square meters for SKK 54,000 (EUR 1,813) which was in line with valid laws. In his opinion, he paid for the flat a sum set by the law just as everybody else.
Prime Minister Radicova approves of Figel’s decision to give up the flat. As he is in a position of a public authority and there could be suspicions on a conflict of interest.
SITA