Opposition: Sasko Admitted Suspicions in Tender, Insists on His Resignation

Bratislava, 13 August (TASR) - Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) admitted to suspicions in the ambulance service tender with his appearance on Wednesday, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS), 'Slovakia' and 'For the People' parties stated on Wednesday, accusing him of not explaining or refuting them and also of not wanting to publish the results of the scrapped tender. The parties said this in response to the minister's press conference on the cancelled tender, insisting that he resign from his post. "Minister Sasko proves with every single one of his speeches that he's covering up a huge mega-fraud worth €2 billion, which is unprecedented in the Slovak health-care sector in recent years, with every single one of his appearances he's proving that he no longer has anything to do at the post of health minister even for one single minute," said MP Julius Jakab ('Slovakia', 'For the People', KU caucus). According to him, the minister clearly admitted that the tender was a fraud and a "shady deal". PS MP Oskar Dvorak pointed out that the minister had neither explained nor refuted the links between the Voice-SD party and a company called Emergency Medical Solutions, which, according to the unofficial results of the tender, is allegedly one of the winning companies. "He's unable to assume responsibility, publish the results and refute the allegations, therefore he has nothing more to do in his position. This is an absolute failure in office. Today's response also proves that the minister can't be trusted to communicate openly and run a new transparent tender," said the MP. MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia', 'For the People', KU caucus) claims that the minister admitted in a live broadcast that suspicions of manipulation of the ambulance tender were justified. "If the opposition and independent journalists hadn't drawn attention to the case, a huge fraud would have been completed. Thus, Minister Sasko had no choice but to stop this scandalous tender, which in no way diminishes his full political responsibility for the attempt to commit a huge thievery," she noted. am/mcs