BRATISLAVA, October 8, (WEBNOVINY)- The State Secretary of the Transport Ministry for the MOST-HID party Ivan Svejna quits the post. One of the former co-owners of the company Hayek Consulting is leaving over the scandal associated with the firm he had co-owned once. Svejna is returning to parliament, where he will be a member of the finance committee. The scandal surfaced following media reports that the company co-owned by Svejna and State Secretary of the Economy Ministry Martin Chren of the SaS earned on tenders announced by the Finance Ministry in the past election term. It is believed that in allegedly fictitious tenders friendly companies competed with Hayek Consulting. Moreover, the company has accepted a state order at the time when both of them already held their positions in the new cabinet.
“I have been considering this decision for long. I resign on my own request”, Svejna told journalists on Friday. He explained that the main reason behind his decision is unprecedented and inappropriate pressure exerted on the F.A .Hayek Foundation. “The foundation is the matter of my heart. The foundation did a lot of work around reforms. I am sorry that the foundation has ended up as a hostage of certain powers in these cases,” he said.
Svejna underscored that his resignation has nothing in common with his work at the Transport Ministry. “People around the foundation have been persecuted They are unhappy about that. The foundation’s credit has been harmed, I do not want that these people suffer,” he said. The second matter of his heart is the party of cooperation, which has been harmed by the case. “It means that my decision means to protect the party MOST-HID,” he said.
Another co-owner of Hayek Consulting at that time, the current Economy Ministry State Secretary Martin Chren (SaS) refuses to step down. Prime Minister Iveta Radicova has decided to not recall for now the state secretaries. According to Radicova, her coalition partners agree with her that there are doubts here but they do not assess the situation around Hayek Consulting as a reason for stepping down or recalling the state secretaries. The Supreme Audit Office controlled by the opposition nominee Jan Jasovsky is to inspect the allegedly fictitious competition in the case involving the firm Hayek Consulting and two state secretaries appointed by the current governing coalition. The authority will be obliged to put this matter on its agenda after parliament adopts the respective resolution. The office carries out inspections regarding the use of all finances within the state budget but the question whether it is also able to examine a fake competition will be known only after the parliament charges it with investigation.
SITA