Gasparovic Sacks Stefanov, Appoints Mikolaj as Interim Minister

Bratislava, March 11 (TASR) - President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday dismissed Construction and Regional Development Minister Igor Stefanov (Slovak National Party/SNS), and commissioned Education Minister Jan Mikolaj (SNS) to lead the ministry on a temporary basis.

Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday called on Stefanov to step down in the wake of an inspection at his ministry that was carried out by the Supreme Audit Office (NKU), which cast doubt on the use of around €4 million attached to the much-discussed notice-board tender.

SNS on Wednesday morning announced that it has recommended Stefanov not to comply with Fico's call. "The premier is not god," blustered SNS boss Jan Slota. He added that even a parent doesn't punish its child twice for the same mistake. Slota was referring to the dismissal of Stefanov's predecessor Marian Janusek last year.

Later on Wednesday, Fico sent a proposal to dismiss Stefanov to the president.

The Construction and Regional Development Ministry in 2007 announced a tender for supplying various legal and advertising services co-financed by EU Funds solely on a notice-board located within the ministry's headquarters. The ministry, which is run by the Slovak National Party (SNS), subsequently signed an agreement with the winning bidder - a consortium that included two companies called Zamedia and Avocat - and paid out part of the money for the services. It came to light later that both Zamedia and Avocat are close to SNS chairman Jan Slota and that the consortium's bid was extremely expensive.

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