Former MP for the Christian democratic movement KDH and mayor of Bratislava Andrej Durkovsky is being charged of violating obligations in handling third party property when as Bratislava mayor he essentially handed over the cultural monument and venue PKO in Bratislava.
Today the portal Aktualne.sk reported the news, with police charges now possible as Durkovsky lost his MP immunity after the March elections. Durkovsky was the target of accusations and suspicions of bribery and cronyism over two affairs of how he handled city property.
The first concerned the culture venue PKO 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 demolition work was halted after the arrival of Milan Ftacnik as Bratislava mayor pending an investigation.
According to the portal, the information is still not official, though. A few failed attempts were made to strip Durkovsky of his immunity while an MP, but now he does not enjoy such a privilege. Bratislava City Hall is claiming Durkovsky exceeded his jurisdiction when signing the agreement with the investor without the endorsement of the City Council. City Hall therefore regards the agreement and the demolition permit as invalid.
I can’t wait for the 4th of July Embassy party to meet you guys! I hope all reading this come…. it will be my first, so be kind! 😉
Maybe it will only take a few EXPATs to make a change for our needs! Never hurts to try!
EXPAT , well that is the real problem , stealing by fellow Slovaks is considered quite normal in Slovakia …who do you go after ? There are not many plaudits for being honest in Slovakia, just poverty in old age . The Law is always very grey , where someone has the authority , but perhaps perhaps people should start to ask themselves not can they, but should they steal ?
Dave C, I was a lone voice for many years, whilst the Ex-pat cretins and the Slovak Lovvies banged on how good and wonderful the Slovak people real are …well not ! I used to puke ! I first become disilusioned when the man who was asked to fit a new gas heating system in my flat quoted me a whopping 15,000 euro price…and then got all insulted and sensitive when I called him a FXXXing thief . It was finally done to the same spec, for less than third of his quoted price .
I have had similar experiences George. One solution I have used a couple of times is to pay for British tradesmen to fly over, put them up for their stay and buy the materials myself. I not only get a first class job, done quickly and correctly, but it really pisses the locals off as well – Bonus! It also works out cheaper.
I think you will find that your Slovak wasn’t upset about what you said, he would be more upset that you had worked out he was thief. They are not the sharpest of knifes in the drawer.
Is he the olny one? Come on…I can name at least a dozen more that can sit with him in the court room!
Dave mate calm down, you`re starting to sound like me .
George, the more I see and hear in this country, the more disilusioned I become!
Durkovsky loses his “get out jail free” card and look what emerges. What I don’t understand is how or why the other councillors or council officers did nothing at the time. Could it be that the monthly pay cheque outweighs doing your duty? It would appear to be a growing problem – A mayor pockets money from a town’s finances and it is not discovered until an audit? did he have the keys to the safe? Did no-one check what he was doing? – Another mayor, a Roma, ran up a mobole phone bill, calling premium rate numbers, that almost exceded the total annual budget for the village – yet no-one noticed?
Just last week, a mayor authorised the payment of 100K for work that had never been done. I don’t know how local govt. works in the SK, other than badly, but I would have thought with the past history of people gaining and then abusing power it would not have taken a panel of rocket scientists to devise some simple safeguards for public property and money. In a country awash with unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy I find it hard to believe that an individual mayor can do what he likes without collusion with someone else. However, no amount of safeguards will overcome the apathy of councillors or LGOs, our own illustrious mayor has assumed all manner of “special powers” which generally involve overturning council decisions in favour of his business friends, but nobody objects or if they do, they are ignored.