At a meeting on Wednesday, the National Council ordered a parliamentary inquiry, with 19 votes in favour and 15 votes against. The National Council has thus proposed to investigate and clarify all the facts and circumstances and to assess the factual situation of the alleged financial depletion of the Gen-I energy company, the alleged controversial practices related to the company Star Solar, and the illegal financing of the electoral campaign of the political party Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) before the 2022 elections to the National Assembly.
At its 15th regular session, members of the National Council discussed, among other things, an amendment to the Restriction on the Use of Tobacco Products and Related Products Act (ZOUTPI-B), an amendment to the Promotion of Digital Inclusion Act (ZSDV-B), a report on the work of the National Council for the year 2024, and they also adopted a request for a parliamentary inquiry.
Members of the National Council supported the bill to amend and supplement the Restriction on the Use of Tobacco Products and Related Products Act (ZOUTPI-B). They also supported the amendment to the Promotion of Digital Inclusion Act (ZSDV-B).
Suspicions of corruption must be investigated
Undoubtedly, the most important decision of Wednesday’s sitting was the consideration of the motion for ordering a parliamentary inquiry to establish and assess the factual situation in order to establish the political responsibility of public office holders on suspicion of having directly or indirectly influenced the uneconomic or illegal decisions of the company Gen-I, d.o.o., leading to the financial impoverishment of the company Gen-I, d.o.o., for allegedly abusing their position, damaging state property and exerting political pressure on the investigation of criminal offences relating to the acquisition and operation of the company Star Solar, d.o.o., and the operating of the state-owned company Borzen, d.o.o., the alleged illegal financing of the political party Freedom Movement, the electoral campaign of the political party Freedom Movement for the 2022 regular elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia; and for a possible amendment of the legislation governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns; the establishment, ownership and management of media publishers, and the financing of the publication and operation of the media during the electoral campaign, the consideration of which had been suspended at the previous session.
Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), the largest opposition party, had already tried to get this investigation started in the past, but it did not have enough MPs to achieve that, and the other opposition party, the New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi), was not willing to contribute additional votes for this cause. However, the National Council has now effectively resolved the internal dispute within the opposition. The vote was held by secret ballot.
C. Š.
