SNS Calls for Review of Property Insurance and Legal Services at SVP and VV

Bratislava, 24 October (TASR) - The junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) has asked Environment Ministry State Secretary Filip Kuffa, who has been tasked with managing the ministry, to arrange a review of property insurance in state-owned water-management construction company Vodohospodarska vystavba (VV) and the Slovak Water Management Company (SVP), TASR learnt from SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova on Saturday. SNS stated that according to publicly available information, both enterprises insured their assets with the same foreign insurance company. The party therefore wants to know whether the selection procedure was carried out properly and whether the insurer's bid was genuinely the most advantageous one for the state. "As we've stated several times on this matter, the state should seek a systemic solution for insuring its assets, aiming for uniform and cost-effective rules rather than individual approaches pursued by separate ministries," stated SNS. The party has also asked the ministry's leadership to carry out a detailed review of legal services provided to the ministry and its subordinate organisations. According to SNS, both state-owned companies, VV and SVP, also used the services of the same law firm. For this reason, SNS considers it necessary to examine the terms under which the law firm was selected and whether public funds spent on these services were used economically. "We've also been informed by the ministry's leadership that both state-owned companies have since restricted or fully terminated their contracts for these legal services," added SNS. jrg/df