BRATISLAVA, December 20, (WEBNOVINY) — Economy Minister Juraj Miskov (SaS) was not surprised by the outcome of the examination by the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) of the so-called the Hayeks’s case. He told the press on Monday that as he had expected, the authority has confirmed shortcomings on the part of the Finance Ministry, not on the part of the winner of the ministry’s tender, the company Hayek Consulting. “I am sure that this is a period behind this case,” said the minister on the occasion of signing the delimitation protocol between the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Economy Ministry on Monday.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova let herself be heard in the past that if the NKU confirms lack of transparency, efficiency and thriftiness of contracts between the Finance Ministry and Hayek Consulting, state secretaries of the Economy Ministry and Transport Ministry Martin Chren (SaS) and Ivan Svejna (MOST-HID), once co-owners of the firm, would be dismissed from their posts. Svejna decided to resign from his post earlier, while Chren still holds the post of state secretary. The prime minister has not yet commented on Chren’s future. It is up to the minister to propose the dismissal of his state secretary. “I do not see the least reason based on the NKU report,” stated Miskov. He added that Chren can decide at any time to resign and for any reason.
After nearly two months, the Supreme Audit Office concluded that the nearly two million euro which the firm Hayek Consulting received from the previous government were used in line with the signed contracts. Co-owners of Hayek Consulting Martin Chren and Ivan Svejna were appointed to posts of state secretaries at the Economy Ministry and Transport Ministry after the June parliamentary elections. From 2007, Hayek Consulting won several contracts from the Finance Ministry and the state agency National Agency for Development of Small and Medium Enterprise (NADSME).
The inquiry of the Supreme Audit Office showed that Hayek Consulting delivered the services as ordered. The office finds the assignment of the contract itself as faulty, for which the ministry and NADSME are accountable. Had they set better conditions, they could have saved thousands of euros from the state coffers. According to NKU spokeswoman Lenka Nosalova, the Finance Ministry failed to secure economic use of funds in three cases and in the case of NADSME one such instance. The entire management of NADSME was dismissed due to alleged siphoning off funds.
SITA