Fico: Fraudulent Disbursement of Funds Earmarked for MOMs Must be Addressed (2)

Bratislava, 22 August (TASR) - The fraudulent disbursement of funds intended for the operation of mobile testing facilities, known as MOMs, during the COVID-19 pandemic, must be addressed, Prime Minister Robert Fico told a press conference on Saturday, together with House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (both Smer-SD), calling on the police, the prosecutor's office and the media to take action. The premier stated that this week's charges against A. K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], who, while employed by the Health Ministry, is alleged to have caused the ministry loss amounting to nearly €1.8 million, is merely the "tip of the iceberg" of fraudulent payments made during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, further information will come to light. The mechanism within the Health Ministry was, according to Fico, simple. "There were companies operating MOMs; this lady and her team allocated a bank account to these companies, and money from the state budget was transferred there, after which 'white horses' [in Slovak, the term 'white horse' denotes a front to hide illegal activities - ed.note] came along and withdrew the money," he said. According to him, the politicians who were in charge of the Health Ministry at the time of the incident must have known about it. "There are also control mechanisms in place at the Finance Ministry that should have put a stop to this wholesale plundering of funds," added Fico. He appealed to the police officers investigating cases involving the current opposition, and urged them not to remain silent if they lack sufficient staff, technical resources or funding, and declared that he can support Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) in ensuring that specialist teams received more funding from the budget. The call was also directed at the Prosecutor-General's Office, urging it to inform the Slovak public about the case. The premier also posed questions to the banks, including how it was possible that they hadn't noticed the unusual withdrawal of a large sum of money. Fico added that he obtained information about the MOMs from discussions he had with Health Ministry staff, and he also spoke with Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar. In response, the opposition 'Slovakia' party stated that the premier is clearly on edge, as even his own voters are beginning to realise that he has once again deceived them regarding key promises. "Moreover, at today's press conference, he forgot to mention the key fact that the accused fraudster was admitted to the Health Ministry during his third term in office," added spokesperson for the 'Slovakia' party Matus Bystriansky. NOTE: This story has been extended to include the final paragraph. am