BRATISLAVA, September 28, (WEBNOVINY) – Finance Minister Ivan Miklos informed on Tuesday about the statement of the Supervisory Board of the state-run lottery company Tipos, which was asked to investigate the activities of the Tipos Director General Stanislav Ziacik regarding some contracts with PR agencies. The board decided that in case of the controversial awarding of contracts to PR agency VYV by Tipos, neither the law nor internal directives of Tipos were breached. However, Ziacik had already resigned before the Supervisory Board delivered its report from the investigation. The minister accepted Ziacik’s resignation and asked him to manage the company until his successor is appointed. The new director general of Tipos should be known in coming days.
“The statement of the Supervisory Board, which is paid for overseeing that the company respects laws and rules, says that neither the law nor internal directives of Tipos were breached,” stated minister Miklos, adding that Ziacik did not wish to specify for what personal reasons he decided to resign.
Media reported on the suspicions related to Ziacik last week. Following the reports, Minister Miklos ordered the investigation of the reported activities. According to them, the PR agency VYV was awarded contracts by Tipos also during the first term of Ziacik in Tipos between 2002 and 2006 as well as after his return to office in the summer of this year. Ziacik confirmed for the NOVY CAS daily that he had been a partner in VYV but he had sold his stake in 2001. He also said that he respects professional agencies from which Tipos buys PR services. Opposition SMER-SD Chairman Robert Fico on Wednesday called the contracts awarded to VYV by Tipos “unprecedented audacity.“ He announced they would closely monitor what the governing coalition will do and wait for a response of the new government.
Miklos said he would decide swiftly whether Ziacik would remain director of the company or not and ordered an investigation. „If the report is sufficient, I will decide immediately, if not, I will ask for additional information, but I do not want to prolong it too much, so I expect to finally decide one way or another early next week,“ Miklos stated last week. The minister said he did not want to act based on a newspaper article. However, Ziacik had decided to resign himself before the results of the investigation were released.
SITA