Interesting information related to the new government’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Emilija Stojmenova Duh, has recently come to light. The Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia confirmed for the web portal Siol that it is currently investigating irregularities in management from the years 2018 and 2019, meaning from the time when the institute was run by Stojmenova Duh. According to Siol’s sources, Stojmenova Duh is suspected, among other things, of transferring projects and European money that was allocated to the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia to the 4PDIH project – meaning, to the project that took place within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana, where she was a lecturer and also in charge of the project in question.
“Regarding your questions, we want to explain that the investigation of possible irregularities is still ongoing, and we cannot disclose and/or comment on them until the end of the investigation due to the interests of the audit of the institution’s operations. We will inform the public about the results and any initiated further proceedings after the completion of the investigation,” the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia explained. Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh, who was supposedly dismissed from the position of director of the said institute due to the alleged irregularities, rejects all allegations.
Siol’s sources reveal that the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia is investigating suspicions that the institute was entitled to European funds and at the time when Stojmenova Duh was its director, due to its participation in project partnership, but the institution did not receive the money, because allegedly, Stojmenova Duh redirected it to other legal entities, thereby causing financial damage to the institution.
The Minister of Digital Transformation rejects these allegations and claims that the institute received the full amount of money to which it was entitled. According to Stojmenova Duh, the institute also carried out the projects for which the intended funds were obtained. “In October 2019, a handover of business took place in the law office chosen by the founder of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at which the legal representatives of both parties were present. All this is dully recorded in the handover report,” the Minister explained.
“Specifically, this was a handover of projects and funds received by the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia in tenders, to the 4PDIH project, which was created within the Ljubljana Faculty of Electrical Engineering, where Stojmenova Duh was a lecturer and also led the said project,” the Siol web portal states, adding that more than 100,000 euros had been channelled to the project. The Minister rejected the allegations and explained that a project to which the Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia applied, and which was then transferred to the 4PDIH project, does not even exist. According to her, all of the information related to this can also be obtained from the European Commission. Namely, when changing partners, an additional procedure is required.
The documentation is said to be lost, damaged and unorganised
The main parts of the documentation on the operation of the institution during the management of Stojmenova Duh were allegedly unorganised, damaged or lost. The Minister also denied these allegations. She said the following: “Not true. Employees who remained at the institute had access to all of the documents, and in addition, I was always available to both the acting director, Aleš Juvančič, as well as director Katja Mohar Bastar for any explanations.” Stojmenova Duh also said that neither she nor her lawyer had been informed of any proceedings that had been instituted against her in connection with the case in question.
Journalist Bojan Požar stated that regarding the new Minister of Digital Transformation, sources say that she changed a lot after taking office. She is supposedly no longer answering calls and messages from her old acquaintances. “She immediately demanded a car and a driver and brought in Inge Kobe as the head of her cabinet, who is a former nurse who makes clay pots and is the private partner of Tone (Tonček) Kregar, the member of the Mi2 music group, who is a prominent member of the Social Democrats party. Allegedly they are good friends,” Požar also pointed out. The Minister is also known to be quite active on Twitter. Although politicians are said to have a rather thick skin, this is clearly not the case with Stojmenova Duh, as she blocks any user that is even slightly critical of her. As we have already reported, she has so far blocked so many people that a web user with the nickname “brutusReloaded” decided to start an art movement, showing all of the profiles that the Minister has blocked, which he jokingly called “MEE TOO,” as an obvious way of teasing the radical leftists.
Sara Kovač
