BRATISLAVA, July 21, (WEBNOVINY) — Opposition SMER-SD leader Robert Fico believes that the state will finance the strongest ruling coalition member SDKU-DS through renting an office building that will host tax authorities in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice. “We in SMER-SD think that there is nothing else but funding of SDKU-DS behind this game and its course,” Fico announced on Thursday. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament maintains that the state will pay more for the contract to a company controlled by an SDKU-DS member and thus, it will basically finance the ruling coalition party.
Fico finds it strange that while Finance Minister Ivan Miklos defends the latest moves by the Tax Directorate of the Slovak Republic, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova says nothing. “She remains silent after the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister has defended something that cannot be defended,” Fico noted. He suspects Miklos and Radicova of having sealed an agreement upon this matter. SMER-SD has appealed to them to make it public. The outcome of the bidding for the building will be crucial for further steps SMER-SD will make.
The opposition leader also criticized the statements Finance Minister Miklos made on Wednesday. Fico perceives the given press conference as evidence that SDKU-DS has fallen victim to internal cronyism. “Ivan Miklos must be aware that he is defending overpriced rent,” he highlighted. Fico protested in particular against Miklos’ words about the problematic aspect of the value-added tax regarding the contract and submitted bids. “There is not a single word about the value-added tax in the tender terms, it is a financially neutral matter,” Fico insisted.
The former prime minister slammed the new contest to pick a building for the tax offices on Wednesday. He believes that it should be canceled. “Such cronyism and such insolence with which the rent of a private building is being pushed for (…) have perhaps not occurred in Slovakia over the past ten to fifteen years,” the party leader complained. However, Finance Minister Miklos accused Fico in response of juggling the figures and misleading the public.
The Tax Directorate of the Slovak Republic has repeated the procedure to select a building for the tax administration in Kosice, since the overall economic impacts of the two submitted bids on the state budget could have not been assessed. Nitra Invest bid to rent its building while its rival CTR Business Center III offered a sublet contract. The impacts of VAT included in case of a rent contract and those ensuing from a sublet differ. This means that in case of a rental contract with the state, the owner of the building is obliged to return the proportional part of the refunded excess VAT paid on input for premises rented to the state, which it claimed during the building’s construction or reconstruction. On the other hand, the owner of the building is not required to do so in case of a sublet contract, according to the Tax Directorate. The different economic impact of the two bids and the different opportunities to apply the law regarding the two bids were among the main reasons for announcing the new tender.
SITA