What was the purpose of the meeting between the Prime Minister’s partner, Tina Gaber, and the President of Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH), Žiga Debeljak? On Thursday, they were spotted in a Ljubljana restaurant, where they sat in a separate room, and Debeljak paid the bill with his company card. Although Gaber is no longer registered on the list of lobbyists, this does not give any guarantee that possible misuse of information will not take place, as the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) has confirmed in a previous statement. What is even more striking is the timing of their meeting, as it took place at a time when it seems that ministers and godfathers from the background are turning their backs on Golob, and as we have already reported, Golob already has plans for the future – when he will leave his position.
Several questions were raised because of the fact that the Prime Minister’s partner, Tina Gaber, a former lobbyist, and the President of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Telekom Slovenije, Žiga Debeljak, were recently spotted together in the Cubo restaurant. Given that they were seated in a separate room, it is doubtful that this was just a “normal lunch” – rather, it would appear that the serious preparation of Golob’s “golden parachute” after another failed attempt in politics has begun. We also addressed specific questions about the meeting directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, Slovenian Sovereign Holding, and the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
We learned from reliable sources that Gaber and Debeljak met in a special, separate room in the Cubo restaurant and left at around 4 p.m. Gaber was the first to leave, followed 5 minutes later by Debeljak, who allegedly paid the bill with his company card. While it is not yet known what the purpose or reason for their meeting was, we cannot ignore the fact that Gaber is a former lobbyist, while Debeljak manages the entire state property and is the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Telekom, a company that is so bothered by our media outlet, Nova24TV, that we have been moved from a prominent position in the programming chart to the 701st position.
It is also worth noting that the Prime Minister and Debeljak are so close that Golob even offered him the position of Minister of Finance before he was offered the position of Chairman of the Management Board of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH), but Debeljak allegedly refused the job because he is not used to working for such a low salary – around 3,500 euros net.
Tina Gaber was removed from the Register of Lobbyists on the 15th of December 2022, immediately after her “affair” with Golob became public, as confirmed by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption at the time. At the time, the Commission pointed out that the “Integrity and Prevention of Corruption Act, which is also binding for the Prime Minister, as an official, contains a conflict of interest safeguard when lobbying. Namely, if a lobbyist, in the course of a lobbying contact, identifies circumstances in which a conflict of interest might arise (for example, for the Prime Minister), he or she must refuse to engage in such contact and report this to the Commission. In other words: the (extra-)marital partner of a public official with whom the public official has a personal relationship cannot lobby the public official, even if the said partner is a registered lobbyist, because the public official must refuse the contact to avoid a conflict of interest.” What about when the lobbyist is meeting a “friend of the partner”?
No safeguards against abuse, only the integrity of individuals
In a previous statement, the Commission also clarified: “However, as a registered lobbyist (or a statutory exception – unregistered lobbyist), this partner may lobby any other public official or body, as long as he or she is not personally, commercially or politically linked to the lobbyist, i.e., as long as there is no conflict of interest for this lobbyist. However, in the case of a lobbyist’s personal partnership with officials, there is a risk that such a lobbyist, who has no contractual relationship with the Ministry and thus no liability in relation to the information received, could misuse or pass on the information to unauthorised persons or use it for his or her own (non-pecuniary) benefit. It is, of course, up to the integrity and professionalism of both parties involved to ensure that this does not happen.”
To simplify – in the specific case of Gaber and Debeljak’s meeting, we should blindly trust their “integrity”, which is not promising news given their past, and especially not given the suggestions that Golob wants to consolidate the Slovenian energy sector, a billion-dollar taxpayer’s cake, one of the last post-transition strongholds, before leaving politics. Ministers are resigning, and as of recently, Golob is even being criticised by the media, which was previously sympathetic to him, a clear indication that he is slowly being pushed out of the game by his godfathers from the background, and it was fitting that Golob’s female companion got in touch with the Chairman of Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which is responsible for the management of the state’s capital investments, at this very time.
Questions to the Prime Minister, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, and the Slovenian Sovereign Holding
We addressed our questions about the meeting at hand directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, and the Slovenian Sovereign Holding. We have not yet received a reply from the first two, while Slovenian Sovereign Holding has sent us the following reply: “Dear Sir or Madam, the President of the Management Board of Slovenian Sovereign Holding, Žiga Debeljak, MSc, does not have a company card and pays all the costs of business meals when he hosts business partners himself. Slovenian Sovereign Holding does not incur any costs in this respect. This week, the President of the Management Board did not have any business lunches or meetings at the restaurant you mentioned, and of course, we cannot and are not obliged to comment on any private meetings he may have had, as they are a private matter.” So, it was not a “business” meeting, but a meeting of a private nature, which does not disprove any possible abuse or attempted abuse.
Debeljak also belongs to the inner circle of Borut Jamnik, the President of the Management Board of Modra zavarovalnica (an insurance company), and was also allegedly involved in Mercator’s controversial real estate deals in the Balkans, namely Mercator’s famous purchase of Maxen petrol stations (here, the threads also lead to Gregor Golobič and the once-notorious lawyer Miro Senica). These deals have reportedly also come under scrutiny by the state prosecutor’s office.
We have inadvertently learned what the Golob government’s plans really are
It was only the devastating August floods that revealed that the Golob government was planning to centralise and consolidate the entire 300-million-euro electricity distribution system, and if it were not for that, we would probably never have found out. In the 2023 amended budget, the government of Robert Golob has earmarked 185.13 million euros for the purchase of shares of small shareholders in five electricity distribution companies. The plan is to pay out 185.13 million euros to small shareholders this year through Slovenian Sovereign Holding, while “the Holding may postpone the second payment to 2024”. The latter means that the 185 million euros is not the final price that taxpayers will pay for this unnecessary and high-risk controversial purchase.
The companies that will be part of this consolidation are Elektro Ljubljana, Elektro Maribor, Elektro Celje, Elektro Gorenjska and Elektro Primorska, from which they intend to squeeze out or pay out small shareholders with budget money. The latter have been working for several years to get out of the ownership of these companies. The state is the majority owner of these companies, while small shareholders hold around 20 percent of the ownership, which prevents them from actually having any influence on the said companies’ business decisions. But they want to get their hands on the money. And that is what they are now getting under Robert Golob. Small shareholders are expected to earn significantly more by selling low-value shares on the market than they would if they were sold at the regular price, and the electricity companies will thus become 100 % state-owned.
To be arranged by Golob’s friend
The process of buying out or squeezing out the small shareholders in these companies will be managed by none other than Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH) under the leadership of Debeljak. According to insiders, the next step for the government of Robert Golob or for him personally, is to merge the electricity distribution companies. The merged company would then be headed by Golob, who is thus arranging for a new job for himself – a golden parachute, where he could once again live a lavish life.
T. B.
