BRATISLAVA, September 29, (WEBNOVINY) — The government is planning to dissolve the National Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises (NADSME). After the Cabinet’s sitting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova informed that the Economy Ministry has until October 15 to submit a plan for the agency’s liquidation and transfer of its commitments to other institutions. The prime minister cannot specify at the moment when exactly the agency should wind up its activities. “I do not want to precede the events, as first the minister is to submit the plan by the aforementioned date how we can proceed with the liquidation in order to enable the functional projects to continue. Money from Brussels is there, we cannot joke about that,” she said.
Before the agency is shut down, the economy minister was tasked with a “personnel earthquake’ in its organs. The Cabinet demands that Minister Juraj Miskov dismisses instantly all representatives of the ministry in the agency’s organs, said Radicova. According to the resolution approved by the Cabinet, Miskov should secure in cooperation with the Slovak Union of Tradesmen and the Slovak Association of Entrepreneurs who are represented in NADSME’s organs immediate replacement of all its members, all members in the existing funds in the agency and recall of all heads of sections and departments. The minister is also charged to prepare a complex report on the situation in the agency for the Cabinet. “The moment I return to the office I will start resolving these things. The October 15 deadline is obligatory,” he stated.
The prime minister explained that the Cabinet decided to take such a radical step for two reasons. The first reason, she said, is the ongoing criminal prosecution regarding fraud worth over EUR 4.5 million in 2006-2009. The second grave reason is that the Economy Ministry bears full responsibility according to the agency’s statutes for the situation and state in these institutions. These statutes were adopted and changed three times by former Economy Minister Jahnatek. In line with them, the administrative board bears responsibility for all personnel issues, the budget, allocation of money, and approval of projects. The administrative board comprises four members, of whom three are representatives of the Economy Ministry, explained Radicova.
Earlier this week, representatives of the Economy Ministry informed that the NADSME has probably been allotting funds in an unlawful way. State Secretary Martin Chren informed of suspicions that the agency allocated EUR 13.5 million to friendly companies through its affiliation Fond Fondov, s.r.o., established in 2006 to provide venture capital for innovative projects. “There are grave suspicions that much of the finances from this fund had been allotted to allied companies. Investigation is underway,” stated Chren.
The state secretary admitted that the state has no reach on about EUR 30 million provided to the agency. The main problem of the ministry, representing the state in the agency, is the fact that all corporate and stockholders’ agreements have been constructed in a way to disable the state controlling the use of the provided funds, explained Chren. The ministry is unable to track down some contracts and cannot revoke the existing deals due to the threat of millions-of-euro penalties. Minister Miskov pointed out that the suspicious activities commenced under the rule of Minister Jirko Malcharek in 2006. Incumbent leaders of the ministry have been dealing with the matter since their appointment and the Office to Fight Corruption has been focusing on this issue since December 2009.
Former economy minister and current MP Lubomir Jahnatek however sees behind siphoning of funds in NADSME the current Finance Minister Ivan Miklos. He told a news conference on Tuesday that processes, which were to start up unlawful handling of finances in the agency were set in 2006 by former director Bystrik Berthoty who was a nominee of the then Finance Minister and acting Economy Minister Ivan Miklos. „Ivan Miklos bears responsibility for the current state of the agency, because it was set in his era and in his era also people were installed in the posts,“ said Jahnatek.
The National Agency for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises was established in 1993 based on the initiative of the EU and the then Slovak government. In early August, Milan Jankura was recalled from the post of the agency director general and the board of trustees appointed Miroslav Dunajcin to its helm.
SITA