The Minister of Justice has no intention of resigning, even though the Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD), her parent party, have called on her to step down. She is not giving up her post, despite the fact that she has signed off on the highly controversial investment to buy a new building, which, once renovated, is to serve as a new courthouse in the future. What is more, instead of resigning, she has launched a war against the party that rejected her. She pointed the finger at the Secretary-General of the SD party, Klemn Žibert.
The Minister of Justice did accept the objective responsibility for the purchase of the said building, but she also stated that she wants to remain a Minister – adding that if she did not, the controversial purchases would continue. This is an argument that was already heard in public before today, but which was not met with public approval. Many are convinced that the Minister staying on is a guarantor that the negligent or corrupt management of taxpayers’ funds will continue.
A few days ago, an interpellation was lodged against the Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan, by the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS). The Minister is accused of a number of things, including dereliction of duty, criminal damage to public funds, suspected abuse of official position and misleading the public.
Why does the Minister not intend to resign?
Recent media reports, as well as the Prime Minister’s appearance in the National Assembly on Tuesday, suggest that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice decided together at a meeting on Tuesday that the Minister should stay in office and use her time to fight the Social Democrats, who have started to overtake the ruling Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) in the opinion polls in recent weeks.
On the other hand, the Minister does not enjoy the support of the leader of the Freedom Movement parliamentary group, the Slovenian Press Agency reported. Namely, Borut Sajovic believes that the Minister is objectively responsible for what happened and “knows what comes next”. “If the minister herself does not resign and, of course, if she no longer has the support of her own party, the public and the Prime Minister, we will discuss the proposal that comes to the National Assembly and then dismiss her,” Sajovic said.
The Social Democrats’ fingerprints
The Secretary-General of the Social Democrats is also apparently involved in the whole affair. Švarc Pipan claims that the purchase of the court building was “a carefully planned action of an organised group with the aim of obtaining unlawful benefits,” and when assigning the blame for it, she also pointed the finger at the Secretary-General of the Social Democrats, Klemen Žibert. Media outlet N1 reported that at a meeting of the presidency of the SD party, Švarc Pipan had already pointed the finger at him for allegedly getting involved in the work of the Ministry of Justice.
“Yesterday, the President of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, said that it was normal and apparently even expected that the party’s Secretary-General interfered in the work of ministries. As I have found out in the last few days, that is exactly what he did in this case. I myself am simply appalled by this statement by the President of the party, because such a practice is illegal and unacceptable and opens the door to systemic corruption, which we must fight by any means necessary,” the Minister of Justice said in a press statement.
The statement refers to Minister Fajon’s appearance on the television station N1 on Tuesday, where she said: “There is so much assigning blame in this whole story… If there is anything truly going on, report it. As for the Secretary-General, I can say that he is doing a very good job. However, it is clear that he does monitor the projects and the work of the ministries. However, he does not have a say in the final decision – that is taken by the head of the ministry.”
Švarc Pipan responded to the statement of the SD party President: “Yesterday, the President of the SD party, Tanja Fajon, said that it was normal and apparently even expected that the party’s Secretary-General interfered in the work of ministries. As I have found out in the last few days, that is exactly what he did in this case. I myself am simply appalled by this statement by the President of the party, because such a practice is illegal and unacceptable and opens the door to systemic corruption, which we must fight by any means necessary,”
The war against the SD party and her subordinates
The Minister added that the process of stripping the heads of all specialist services involved in the controversial deal of their powers will be carried out on Wednesday. The head of the finance department, Janja Garvas, Simon Starček, head of the real estate and investment department, and Jure Maleš, head of the legal department, which drafted and reviewed the contract, will apparently lose their jobs.
In keeping with the folklore of the left, Minister Švarc Pipan also tried to shift the responsibility for the purchase to the SDS party, as some of the officials are, she believes, members of the Slovenian Democratic Party. President of the SDS party, Janez Janša, also responded to the Minister trying to shift the blame on somebody else, saying: “Huh? How does the Minister know which official is a member of which party (other than those she appointed from her own party)? The Information Commissioner says that this is not public, but personal information.”
The Minister sees the blame for the controversial purchase of a building which, according to some estimates, was overpaid by 6 million euros, everywhere, but not with the person who actually signed the purchase contract – that is, herself. To the sum of 6 million euros, we must also add the funds that will be needed to renovate the dilapidated building, which, according to the judges for whom it was intended, is unfit for business.
Brecelj: SD is a predatory party
The unravelling of the affair in the public eye is increasingly revealing the truth of the words of Dr Erik Brecelj, chairman of Golob’s Health Council, who said: “We know what the SD party is in the healthcare sector. It is the old predatory party.” However, in view of recent developments, the party is not only operating in this manner in the healthcare sector, but also within other subsystems in the country. The SD party strongly denied the statement made by Dr Brecelj and announced the possibility of taking legal action against him.
Meanwhile, Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan does not intend to leave the party. She says that there are still many honest people in the party, but that it now has the opportunity to clean up its controversial practices and show that such practices are unacceptable to them. The Minister of the Economy, who comes from the same party, Matjaž Han, also spoke about the party of honest people a few days ago.
The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are also responsible
The media, operating under the government umbrella, conveniently omitted from their reports the fact that the Minister of Finance, Klemen Boštjančič, was also responsible for the controversial purchase, as he found the funds for the purchase in the budget reserve. However, the reserve is supposed to be used for unforeseen expenses only, not for entirely foreseeable investments such as the purchase of a new property. The media also conveniently forgot to mention the responsibility of the Prime Minister himself. The purchase of the building was approved at a cabinet meeting just before the end of last year.
Ž. K.
