“I cannot understand how it is possible that a Member of Parliament is prepared to go against all laws, against all practices, against all rules of procedure, just to protect his party, to protect the Prime Minister – the President of his party and, of course, the energy lobby, of which he has been a member and a staunch supporter for many years in this National Assembly and still is as a Member of Parliament. In the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), even in our parliamentary group, we refuse to accept the fact that someone can usurp the leadership of the work of the Commission of Inquiry,” said SDS MP Žan Mahnič, in a sign of criticism of the actions of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) MP Tomaž Lah.
SDS MP Rado Gladek – referring to the work of the Commission of Inquiry for determining the alleged financial exhaustion of the company Gen-I, alleged controversial practices related to the company Star Solar, alleged illegal financing of the political party Gibanje Svoboda, and alleged illegal financing of the electoral campaign of Gibanje Svoboda for the regular elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia in 2022 – noted that the composition of the Commission was confirmed on the 23rd of May, and thus the President of the Commission was confirmed that day, too. But on that same day, five members of the Commission submitted a request for an urgent meeting, which was not convened within the 14-day deadline by the then-confirmed President of the Commission, Tomaž Lah.
Thus, according to MP Gladek, it was not until the 12th of June that the first urgent meeting of the Commission of Inquiry took place, with two agenda items – the constitution of the Commission and the agreement on its work. “After the first item was completed, the SDS members of the commission tabled a motion for a decision on evidence and a motion for a decision on carrying out preparatory investigative actions. In the evidentiary decision, we set out the list of witnesses
As Lah rejected their proposal, the SDS members of the Commission did not take part in the rest of the meeting. “As the Vice-President of the Commission, I informed the President of the Commission for Public Office and Elections (MEK), Janja Sluga, that MP Lah was no longer the President of the Commission on the same day with a letter. I urged President Sluga to carry out all the formal procedures for the appointment of new members of the Commission and thus enable its smooth functioning,” he explained, adding that he had sent the letter on the basis of the 2nd paragraph of Article 3 of the Parliamentary Inquiry Act. On the 17th of June this year, the leader of the SDS party parliamentary group, Jelka Godec, submitted a request to convene a session of the Commission for Public Office and Elections, which was rejected by the President of the said Commission on the 21st of June. On the 24th of June, they once again sent a request to convene an urgent session of the Commission.
This is an attack on democracy
As both Lah and the President of the Commission for Public Office and Elections ignored all requests to restore the normal functioning of the aforementioned Commission of Inquiry, Gladek, as Vice-Chair of the Commission, personally handed over the document convening the 2nd extraordinary session of the Commission of Inquiry to the Commission’s expert services on the 9th of July. He convened the Commission on the 15th of July, at 9 a.m., with one agenda item – agreement on future work. “The convocation document is not visible to me personally in the system, and the services of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia do not take care of the technical implementation of the meeting,” he stressed, adding that Lah had sent a letter on the 10th of July stating that MP Gladek’s convocation as Vice-President was null and void, and then on the 11th of July, he announced the first regular meeting of the Commission of Inquiry to be held on the 18th of September. “In light of the above, this is a violation of the Parliamentary Inquiry Act, the Rules of Procedure for Parliamentary Inquiries and the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, with the aim of delaying and obstructing the work of the Commission of Inquiry.”
He assessed that this was “clearly an attack on democracy,” which is why on Friday, the 20th of July, the District State Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana and the police were informed of suspicions of abuse of official position or official rights or of negligent work of the Freedom Movement MP Tomaž Lah.
Authoritarian members of the Freedom Movement do not respect any laws
“Under the authoritarian leadership of the authoritarian Freedom Movement party, no laws are valid anymore, no rules of procedure are valid anymore – not only the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, but also the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry,” said MEP Mahnič, pointing out that Lah is still illegally in the position of President of the Commission, adding that this is “of course, illegal, contrary to the law, and constitutes an abuse of office and negligence in the performance of one’s duties.”
“Tomaž Lah’s responses to all the accusations are unconvincing. Tomaž Lah does not know the law on parliamentary inquiries. Tomaž Lah does not know the Rules of Procedure for Parliamentary Inquiries. I sincerely hope that this is the case, because I am scared to believe that Tomaž Lah actually does know all this, but knowingly violates it,” Mahnič said, adding that it could be one or the other, but it could also be that he is not doing any of this of his own free will. According to Mahnič, it is important to remember that Lah is a substitute and was not elected to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. He is here to replace Barbara Kolenko Helbl, who is currently Secretary-General of the Government. “It could happen at any time that if Lah disobeys the will of Robert Golob, Golob gets rid of him and sends Kolenko Helbl back to Parliament, which would mean that Lah would no longer be a Member of Parliament, because his mandate as a substitute would be terminated. That is why he is doing all this, because there is only one goal – to protect Robert Golob, Star Solar, GEN-I and, of course, to protect the Freedom Movement party, because this can only be done by making the work of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry impossible”, he stressed.
Lah contradicted himself
In the continuation of the press conference on the topic in question, Mahnič spoke about how Lah contradicted himself. “When we made a request for an extraordinary meeting of the Commission as soon as it was set up, he did not take our request into account. His reply was that the Commission had not yet been constituted and that was why he did not heed our call. However, when, at the time of the constitution of the convocation, we submitted a third request for 70 witnesses and for certain investigative measures to be carried out, he said that he could not take that into account at this meeting because we would have had to submit it one day earlier by noon. I mean, how is that even possible, if 10 minutes ago you said that the Commission of Inquiry had not yet been set up?” explained Mahnič.
“How could Lah have taken into account a document that would have come to the Commission of Inquiry when he demonstrably did not take into account another document, which was the request to convene a meeting. That is to say, Lah is feigning ignorance, he is evading the law, he is breaking the law, he is lying to everyone in order to protect Golob and the Freedom Movement. In the SDS party, we abide by the law and the Rules of Procedure,” Mahnič pointed out, adding that that is why, in accordance with Article 12 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, they had submitted what is known as a third-party request. “The moment Lah read it out at the first session, the Commission of Inquiry was constituted. Our assistant filed the thirds’ request with the Registrar’s Office, we also tabled it at the next point – the working agreement – and the rules of procedure are clear,” he explained, adding that the Commission of Inquiry has to carry out preparatory investigative actions, inform the public of the preparatory investigative measures carried out, send questions of the national authorities in connection with the parliamentary inquiry, and receive and take evidence. This includes the hearing of witnesses, if at least one-third of the members of the Commission of Inquiry request it. “Five out of 14 MPs have requested it, which is more than one-third,” he was clear.
The law on parliamentary inquiries is clear
According to Mahnič, a request by one-third of the members is equivalent to a vote. When he himself became a witness at the Commission of Inquiry on the SDS party and some media, he stood up and left the chamber after the vote. He pointed out, however, that “Lah continues to chair the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry. The law on parliamentary inquiry is clearly written, and it states that no MP may sit on an commission of inquiry if he or she is a person under investigation or a witness in the matter under investigation.” He added that if the circumstances referred to in the previous paragraph applied to the President of the Commission of Inquiry, the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia had to inform the Vice-President of the Commission of Inquiry about it. Gladek did just that and informed the National Assembly and the Commission for Public Office and Elections that Lah was no longer the President of the Commission and that a new President should, therefore, be appointed.
The MP believes that the head of the Commission for Public Office and Elections is also making a fool of herself, saying that the Commission of Inquiry has not sent her anything in order to vote on this. “Of course not, because there is no vote, because Lah cannot put anything to the vote, because he is no longer the President,” he pointed out, stressing that in regards to Gladek’s request to convene Tuesday’s sitting, a deadlock had arisen, which had led to a meeting between the Secretary-General of Parliament, the Commission’s Assistant, and the illegal President of the Commission, MP Lah, which led to a decision to block Gladek’s convening.
Lah clearly wrote: “I am the Commission of Inquiry.”
Mahnič also revealed Lah’s way of expressing himself, as he wrote to Gladek: “On the basis of all the above, I order the competent services of the National Assembly to consider your convocation as null and void or non-existent, since, as the President of this Commission, I believe that it was not submitted in accordance with the law and the Rules of Procedure.” Mahnič pointed out that he had never before heard anything about the President of the Commission ordering such things. Lah also wrote that the convocation in question should not be considered as tabled, stressing that “any responsibility for this decision rests solely with him as the sole President of this Commission of Inquiry.” “Tomaž Lah clearly wrote – I am the Commission of Inquiry; I am the National Assembly. For these reasons, we, the undersigned members of the SDS party, members of the Commission, have sent a report to the District State Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana and the police on suspicion of committing a criminal offence of abuse of official position and negligence in the performance of one’s duties,” Mahnič explained.
Regarding the convening of the September session, Mahnič added that they are counting on the approval of the law related to the parliamentary inquiry. During the session, the list of witnesses will supposedly also be presented at the time, although this is not relevant because it has already been submitted, and the third request will be submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia. “Now you know why they went and hurried so much with the amendment of the Parliamentary Inquiry Act, and the former judge can say whatever she wants about it. There is only one goal – to protect the wrongdoings and mafia business of Robert Golob, his clique when he was still with Gen-I, and all those who participated in the misconduct. They want to put the brakes on it, we want to investigate it. I believe that in the end, the court will recognise why this is happening and will rule in accordance with the law,” he concluded.
Ž. N.
