Head of Smer-SD opposition party Robert Fico has jumped again on the tender for the rental of premises to the Kosice tax office, referring to the whole affair as a clear example of cronyism in the SDKU party of PM Iveta Radicova.
At a press conference yesterday, Fico said that nothing like it has been witnessed here for 10-15 years, while claiming that the Slovak Tax Directorate had guided the whole tender so that it would be won by the company Nitra Invest, which is owned by SDKU regional head Ondrej Scurka.
Nitra Invest won the first tender, which was cancelled due to pressure over potential cronyism, and now it looks set to win also the second one as it is the only bidder. Fico has a theory that Nitra Invest’s rival did not even submit an offer this time as it knew it had no chance of winning. Fico also believes that the conditions of the tender were tailored to suit Nitra Invest.
In response to the allegations, finance minister Ivan Miklos (who came under a lot of pressure over the tender) has openly called Fico a liar and even says the whole scandal is down to Fico for signing a disadvantageous EUR 2 million p.a. contract for the tax office in the first place. Nitra Invest’s bid is just EUR 1.3 million, and so Miklos says Fico is merely trying to deceive the public once again.