European Prosecutor's Office Looking into Slovensko.sk IT Procurement

Bratislava, 22 January (TASR) – The European Public Prosecutor's Office has launched criminal proceedings regarding the procurement of IT solutions for the public administration online platform slovensko.sk, with the case concerning the suspected crimes of manipulating a public procurement and attempted damage to the financial interests of the European Union, the Let's Stop Corruption Foundation reported on its social media on Thursday. "At the end of last year, along with Slovensko.Digital, we pointed to dubious purchases worth approximately €130 million initiated by minister Samuel Migal (independent). These concerned a revamp of the slovensko.sk website. We filed a criminal complaint over the purchase of one specific IT solution," said the foundation. Let's Stop Corruption specified that the case involved the purchase of a so-called IAM licence for the slovensko.sk platform for €17.8 million. According to the foundation, the tender conditions were set up in favour of a company called Barclet, which is linked to long-time supplier GlobalTel. The criminal complaint was filed by the foundation at the end of October of last year. At the time, the Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry (MIRRI) responded by stating that it welcomed the criminal complaint, "because it is absurd and, thanks to its failure, the public will have another argument that the steps being taken are fully in line with the law and beneficial for Slovakia". According to the investment ministry, the foundation ignored facts and distorted information, while MIRRI communicated with it and answered all its questions. Licences from Barclet have been operating on the slovensko.sk platform since 2015, but in terms of capacity and functionality they do not meet the required parameters, stated MIRRI. The object of the procurement was to improve them. mf/df