The government of Robert Golob is facing several allegations of controversial tenders and irregularities in public procurement. One of the recent high-profile cases is the deal to buy two urgently needed helicopters for medical rescue.
The tender was managed by the Ministry of the Interior, and although its representatives had previously checked delivery times with European manufacturers, only one manufacturer was found to be suitable, namely the Italian company Leonardo, from which the police had already recently bought helicopters.
Brokers, commissions?
The tender required the manufacturer to deliver the two helicopters by the 31st of October 2026 at the latest, but the Ministry knew that Airbus, as one of the two most serious bidders, would not be able to do so.
Airbus revealed that they were ready to tender their successful HEMS H145 model, but due to high market demand it was not possible to meet the required delivery dates of the tender. It is also not clear why the Ministry is so keen on the Italian manufacturer Leonardo. The question arises whether commissions are involved. Last week, an investigation on TV Slovenia’s show Tarča (Target) revealed the involvement of individuals such as former minister and chairman of the militant organisation Tit Turnšek, lobbyist Božo Dimnik and his daughter Diana Dimnik, a well-known supplier to the public health service.
MP Mahnič: A clear case of corruption
MP Žan Mahnič of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) warned on social media that the tender and attempt to purchase two helicopters was “a clear example of corruption that stinks to high heaven”. He wrote that “the lobbyist for the Leonardo company in Slovenia is Uroš Marolt, a former recruiter for the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia party (Liberalna demokracija Slovenije – LDS) at Mobitel, Gregor Golobič’s man,” and added: “Maybe our law enforcement authorities should look into the ownership of the company abroad, with which the vehicle he drives around Slovenia is registered.”
Janez Janša, the SDS president, wrote that “this same Leonardo is supposed to be setting up a SOC (security operation centre), a cyber-security centre for all state-owned companies within the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH), at a cost of 60 million euros.” Janša asked the government whether this was true. He asked whether the head of the SOC project is Golob’s confidant Damir Črnčec, who “has just moved to the Slovenian Sovereign Holding as head of corporate security”. Is this a case of the Freedom movement coalition funding bypassing and are “the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and Left (Levica) parties aware of what can come out of SOC and ‘cyber security'”? The government did not answer the questions.
Rigged tender, hijacked state
It has, however, been confirmed that the grey eminence of the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda), Damir Črnčec, has moved from the Ministry of Defence to the position of Assistant to the President of the Management Board of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which is headed by the Freedom Movement’s chief economic operative Žiga Debeljak. It is not clear what Črnčec, as a security expert, is supposed to be doing in a state-owned company dealing with capital investments, as Assistant to the President of the Management Board, but it is obvious that the tender was made specifically for him.
The tender for Debeljak’s assistant was published by the Sovereign Holding the day before Christmas and expired on the 8th of January. In addition, other candidates who might have been interested in the post were further restricted by the fact that the call for tenders stated that the candidate must have 10 years of professional experience, seven of which must have been in fields related to security, intelligence, defence, policing and related activities. Coincidentally, this is the experience that Mr Črnčec has.
The fact that the Sovereign Holding has remained silent on how many candidates even applied for the call for tenders, as pointed out by some other media, further confirms the belief that this was a political choice and a pre-arranged selection. It is also possible that only Črnčec applied because of the short deadline during the holidays and the additional conditions.
The journalist of the Finance newspaper, Jurij Šimac, wrote: “You know what? Go to hell with your subsidised calls for friends and your tenders for fine jobs, which you publish the day before Christmas Eve. This is a hijacked country in the flesh.”
Meanwhile, the newspaper Delo has revealed that if a new government were to dismiss him from the post of Assistant to the President of the Board of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, Damir Črnčec has reserved the right to return to his post in the Slovenian Armed Forces, where he was before he became State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence. This is an interesting “reservation”, quite commonly used in the civil service, but still.
Telekom: Cyber security through an intermediary
The e-procurement portal shows that the Slovenian Sovereign Holding has recently carried out a public procurement for Telekom, namely for a project to provide operational cyber security services. Therefore, the Sovereign Holding was the intermediary. Why is Telekom not doing this on its own, or is it working with the Italian company Leonardo and the lobbyist Uroš Marolt? These were just a few of the questions we sent to Telekom. We were told that Marolt is not an employee of Telekom, nor does he have an author’s, subcontract or any other contract with Telekom, and that they do not cooperate with Leonardo. “Telekom Slovenije provides cyber protection through the services of our Cyber Security and Resilience Centre at the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, and we were selected to provide these services through a public tender.” In a longer response, they further explained that the Cyber Protection Centre was established in 2018 and is used for their own needs as well as for other organisations, public institutions and companies. They have also obtained the relevant certifications for the provision of these services. They raise users’ awareness of the safe use of communication devices and services, and also develop adapted solutions for companies.
What about the Slovenian Sovereign Holding and brokerage? “We do not disclose details of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding’s cyber security provisions due to commercial confidentiality,” they added.
Slovenian Sovereign Holding: We know nothing, we hear nothing
The Slovenian Sovereign Holding told us that it is “committed” to ensuring a high level of corporate security, including cyber security.
As part of its active protection, the Slovenian Sovereign Holding also uses the services of Telekom Slovenije’s Security Operations Centre, which provides this service under the name “Cyber Security and Resilience Centre”. The Sovereign Holding did not explain why it then carried out a public procurement for Telekom.
They were also very brief when talking about the cooperation with the Italian company Leonardo, saying only that “the Slovenian Sovereign Holding is not aware of any such project and has no plans to engage in one,” whatever that is supposed to mean.
We asked them whether it was accurate that Leonardo would be setting up cyber security systems for all state-owned companies under the umbrella of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, what the value of the project was, and which companies in particular were involved; how the Slovenian Sovereign Holding management was responding to the possibility of corruption in this case, which was being pointed out on social networks, and who within the Sovereign Holding was the project manager for setting up the cyber security centres. Is it Damir Črnčec, as some media are claiming? What is the cooperation between the Slovenian Sovereign Holding and Mr Uroš Marolt? None of these questions have been answered.
Vida Kocjan
