PS Files Criminal Complaint Over EU Funds Allocation

Bratislava, 19 March (TASR) – The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party has filed a criminal complaint over the allocation of EU funds from a call by the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry, with the suspicions concerning alleged corruption, subsidy fraud and misusing the powers of a public official, said PS MPs at a briefing outside the Prosecutor-General's Office on Wednesday (March 18). PS claims that part of the funding may have been directed to companies linked to the Voice-SD party, with nearly €3 million out of a total of €10 million allegedly awarded to two consortia with such connections. The ministry later clarified that it had provided subsidies to the companies in question totalling €584,000. According to PS, the companies involve individuals active in the party or its supporters. It also pointed out that the organisations were set up shortly before the call was announced or had changed their scope of activity. The opposition MPs also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest and called for a thorough investigation as well as political accountability. In response, the ministry has rejected all the allegations made by PS. "Filing empty and politically motivated criminal complaints has become traditional folklore for this opposition. At the same time, opposition politicians have been proven to have made several verifiably false claims concerning this issue," stated the Labour Ministry. mf/df