The previous mayor of Bratislava and MP with the ruling KDH party, Andrej Durkovsky, has been the target of accusations and suspicions of bribery and cronysim recently over two affairs of how he handled city property.
The first concerned the cultural events venue PKO in Bratislava, after he gave the green light to the company Henbury Development to demolish it and build a new complex in its place. He allegedly endorsed the project without even consulting it with councillors, and so now demolition work has been halted until an investigation takes place. Durkovsky surrendered the powers of Bratislava City Hall to the investor just three days before the local elections (he did not re-run for the post).
The second affair concerns the sale of part of Bratislava region waterworks company BVS, while newly elected mayor of Bratislava, Milan Ftacnik, claims the company’s assets are being siphoned off.
An anonymous source within KDH told TASR newswire that Durkovsky may be asked to give up his MP mandate if he does not provide adequate justification for his acts at a special meeting with party leaders this afternoon. If Durkovsky does not accept party leader Jan Figel’s invitation to attend the meeting, he could find himself expelled from the KDH party.