The Acting Director of the Government Office for Minorities, Janez Doltar, has handed in his resignation. But before that, he had signed several annexes with Radio-Television Slovenia for an amount of 5 million euros, which are rightly suspected of being illegal. In addition, Doltar has been accused of sexual harassment by employees.
On Wednesday, President of the Management Board of the national media outlet Radio-Television Slovenia (RTVS), Zvezdan Martić, and Acting Director of the Government Office for Minorities, Janez Doltar, signed several annexes to contracts on co-financing radio and television programmes for the Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities for an additional 5 million euros this year.
The government has thus decided to reallocate 5 million euros to the minorities budget for this year (it plans to allocate another 10 million euros next year) so that this money can be transferred to the new RTV Slovenia administration, which is struggling because it will end the year in the red. This money was not earmarked in the national budget, which sets out what the government is allowed to spend. Moreover, the five million will not go to the national minorities – instead, this is a fraud, about which journalist Peter Jančič has also written an article.
Accusations of unprofessionalism and harassment have been levelled at him
Janez Doltar also faced accusations of incompetence in the management of the institution. Namely, in early November, a letter was sent from the Ključ Association, a centre for combating human trafficking, to ministers and Prime Minister Robert Golob requesting consideration of the suitability of the candidate for the new Acting Director of the Government Office for Minorities, Janez Doltar. He took up the post at the end of May for a period of six months. The President of the Association expressed concern about the “disastrous” performance of the Office since his arrival. She believes that Doltar is unsuitable for a number of reasons, including inappropriate communication bordering on sexual harassment. According to the staff, the situation at the Office has become catastrophic since his arrival, which has also been noted by others who are not employed at the Office.
The Acting Director of the Government Office for Minorities, Janez Doltar, has tendered his resignation on Thursday. The resignation has been accepted by the Secretary-General of the Government, Barbara Kolenko Helbl, and will take effect on the 1st of January next year, the Government Communication Office has said.
C. Š.
