Sulik Files Criminal Complaint with PG's Office against Marcel Slavik

Bratislava, January 21 (TASR) - Vice-premier and Economy Minister Richard Sulik (Freedom and Solidarity) held a news conference on Thursday to announce that he's decided to file a criminal complaint against Marcel Slavik and his association for protracting construction proceedings and causing problems for developers with his pointless conditions and requirements. Sulik is filing criminal complaints with the Prosecutor-General's (PG) Office in five specific cases. He hopes that the PG's Office will act and thus end the suffering of construction developers that has been going on for several years. Sulik said that the same name - Marcel Slavik - has been appearing around construction developers for a long time. "He's a person who interferes in construction procedures with pointless requirements and blocks construction until he gets a sponsorship contribution for his association," said the minister, adding that his demands include a fountain on a roof, trees on a carpark or specific materials to be used in construction. "Fulfil this or pay," said Sulik when describing Slavik's strategy. The minister claims that he's received a plenty of motions and testimonies from construction developers, and the PG Office should now examine whether they involve crimes. According to Sulik, Slavik has been operating all over Slovakia, with his demands appearing in construction projects implemented by cultural institutions, developers and state-owned companies. He adds his comments to each project, thereby protracting construction proceedings. "Time is money, and so construction developers often prefer to pay a contribution to any association than see their construction project extended by six months," noted Sulik. According to the minister, Slavik hides behind pseudo-environmental issues and floods the authorities with papers, but he only cares about the money that he collects for his association. The minister called on any other construction developers who have had problems either with Slavik or his association to contact him directly. When asked about his opinion on cooperation between Slavik and Vice-premier for Legislation Stefan Holy (We Are Family) in preparing the new Construction Act, Sulik said it doesn't look good when the team of Holy's advisors features Slavik. "On the other hand, I believe that it's for the same reason as when IT firms engage hackers in order to make their software safer," added Sulik. ko/df