“We cannot seem to find the money for certain things in our country, but on the other hand, money for other things is miraculously found overnight, in spite of all the regulations, laws and rules, and it is immediately transferred, and nobody sees a problem with that,” MP Rado Gladek from the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) pointed out on Nova24TV’s show “Topic of the Day” (“Tema dneva”), discussing the reasons why the party is demanding the resignation of Minister Klemen Boštjančič.
As MP Rado Gladek pointed out at a recent press conference, the results of an audit by the Court of Audit were highlighted. A few days ago, the Court issued an audit report on the implementation of the 2023 budget, in which it took a broader look at the various budget spending entities. Given that the Ministry of Finance, or the Minister of Finance, is the first person in the country responsible for legal compliance with the use of public funds, they focused on findings that clearly point to irregularities that are already widely known to the Slovenian public. This is the purchase of what was supposed to be a Court Building on Litijska Street, which was carried out without any announcement that the building was needed at all. In the end, there was no consent from the users, and the money ended up in the budget reserve just before the holidays.
Regarding the dilapidated court building, MP Gladek noted that the Prime Minister had also admitted to the irregularities when Gladek himself had asked him about the situation just before the holidays. “In fact, he himself stated that nothing “was right,” as far as the paperwork or documents were concerned.” Attention was also drawn to the fact that under the Reconstruction Act, a special fund was to be set up into which earmarked funds for the post-flood reconstruction would be paid and, in turn, from which they would be drawn. “The Court of Audit notes that this fund has not been set up,” he pointed out.
If the Minister is unable to resign, the Prime Minister will be called on to dismiss him
In light of the additional burden on the economy, the MP pointed out that all the money collected goes to the budget. “A few days ago, we read in a financial newspaper that a record amount had been collected in corporation tax and that this amount had increased, which is logical, but on the other hand, we have no clear instrument to monitor where this money is going.” He also said that the party was also focusing on the purchase of computers, where the Court of Audit, as well as others, had found irregularities, but nothing had happened. “The Minister for Digital Transformation is still here, but we also need to be aware of the Minister of Finance’s responsibility regarding the use of public money. Our conclusion is that we want an irregular meeting of the Finance Committee, and, in view of the irregularities, we will call on the Minister to resign to show his integrity.” If the Minister is unable to do so, he said they are going to call on the Prime Minister to dismiss the Minister of Finance, Klemen Boštjančič.
When asked what all went wrong with the purchase of the court building on Litijska Street, Gladek began by pointing out that when you buy something, you first have to ask the user whether the solution works for them. “But the user did not agree with the purchase. The purchase should have been in the budget, in the development programme plan. So, the purpose should have been shown in the budget. But in the end, just before the end of the year, the transaction took place. Someone suddenly realised that this building was ideal. We heard that they didn’t even go to look at it, that they didn’t know what the square footage was and so on.”
There are some things we can’t seem to find the money for in our country
In short, according to the MP, the money for the dilapidated court building on Litijska Street was found without any problems, but on the other hand, we see daily how money is being raised for the treatment of a child at a charity concert, we hear stories from the Maribor oncology unit where they cannot reach an agreement with the residents who would like a fair compensation for their flat so that they can move in normally. These are elderly people who probably do not have all that much money in savings and so on. “That is to say, we cannot seem to find the money for certain things in our country, but on the other hand, money for other things is miraculously found overnight, in spite of all the regulations, laws and rules, and it is immediately transferred, and nobody sees a problem with that.”
Emilija Stojmenova Duh’s actions are inadmissible
Regarding the purchase of computers, the MP said that a lot of strange things happened in this process. The main problem was that they did not even have a clear picture of how many computers they needed and for whom. As for the interpellation of Minister Emilija Stojmenova Duh, he said that in the debate on the first interpellation, he had presented in a fully reasoned way what had gone wrong, but there had been no answer, no denial that something was wrong. Later on, he said, the Competition Protection Agency also got involved and realised that something was really wrong here. “There are clear indications, signals that the Minister is not acting legally or transparently. We will now try again with an interpellation,” he said, adding that the fact is that it is all up to the coalition. “We hope that the smaller coalition partners will see that this thing is inadmissible and that maybe in this way we are actually giving a signal to the minister that she has to go, if she doesn’t realise herself before that that maybe it’s just time to say goodbye to the ministerial post.”
Although the computers in question, which are still in storage, can function for a couple of years for non-intensive users, the Member of Parliament pointed out that the computers are under warranty. The first problem is that if a user’s computer breaks down, it will not be possible to repair it under warranty. He recalled that they had initially bought computers without an operating system, but they had constantly stressed that they knew that they would be installing open-source systems on them. He said that he had asked the Minister how much it would cost to install the free operating system on computers, and he had been told that it would cost the state around 300,000 euros. He said that the need for the system should have been known earlier, but now taxpayers’ money was being wasted again.
Let the economy breathe
As critics of the first tax reform package say that the government is padding its budget at the expense of the economy, the MP said that the government is already padding its budget at the expense of the economy with other measures. “That is exactly what was the subject of the Court of Audit’s report, you know, the additional decision on the profit tax due to the flood reconstruction, but now we don’t know exactly where this money is going. We know that more has been collected or that the inflows are higher, but we don’t know where the money is going,” he commented. He noted that the Finance Minister is focusing or looking for money only in the economy, but on the other hand, we know that the economic future is obviously not very rosy. “There are black clouds all around us, if we are talking about the European Union, and we should be very careful about the economic environment and not get involved in things that are working fine. Let the economy breathe, instead of further tightening a noose around its neck,” he stressed, adding that he does not understand any of these actions.
Ž. N.
