Environment Ministry Rejects SNS Claims Over State Property Sale as Lies

Bratislava, 12 September (TASR) - The Environment Ministry rejects statements by junior coalition party SNS concerning the alleged sale of valuable state property, calling them lies and insisting that it was not selling any valuable property, TASR was told by the ministry's press department on Saturday. The ministry responded this way to an SNS call for Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (SNS nominee) to halt property sale processes, specifically the sale of the Bobrovnik hotel at Liptovska Mara. "The Environment Ministry is not selling any valuable property," the ministry underlined. It said its organisations were acting in line with a government call to minimise, as part of public finance consolidation, state costs associated with maintaining properties that have not been used for years, represent only costs for the state or those designated as surplus property. Such property is offered publicly on that basis. "What is crucial, however, is that no property can be sold without the approval of the government. The minimum price is set by an expert valuation and any Slovak citizen can submit a bid, including Mr. Andrej Danko himself," the ministry stated. Earlier in the day, SNS called on Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Taraba to immediately suspend all ongoing processes involving the sale of the ministry's movable and immovable property. It specifically asked him not to approve the sale of the state-owned Bobrovnik hotel near Liptovska Mara, which is owned by the Slovak Water Management Enterprise. According to SNS, such a proposal should not even be submitted to the government in the time remaining until the end of Taraba's tenure at the ministry. mf