Taraba Views Criminal Complaint Over Bonuses as Political Marketing

Bratislava, 10 November (TASR) – Former environment minister Tomas Taraba stands by his decision to award bonuses to employees of the Environment Ministry, claiming that they delivered key results for Slovakia. Speaking at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, Taraba described the criminal complaint filed by the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party as nothing but a publicity stunt. "I stand by the fact that the people who delivered billion-euro projects for Slovakia, such as zoning plans, brought the aluminium plant project to completion and helped Slovakia to become the biggest recipient of EU funds, while saving 8,500 jobs at the steelworks in Kosice, achieved major results. For example, if the EU funds department managed to save €2.4 million a year by reducing staff numbers, I consider it perfectly normal for the people involved in this to receive bonuses," said Taraba. He also highlighted cost-cutting measures and other steps implemented by the ministry under his leadership, citing, for instance, the reduction in the number of workers employed on temporary contracts. "We managed to insulate 30,000 people's homes as a result," he stated. Taraba also described as absurd the opposition's criticism of him over the issue, stating that opposition politicians awarded themselves substantial bonuses when they were in government. He accentuated that the key consideration when awarding bonuses was whether the recipients had delivered significant results. In his view, both sides of the argument need to be presented, not just one. Earlier on Tuesday, PS announced that it was filing a criminal complaint over bonuses paid at the Environment Ministry during Taraba's tenure. The party suspects a breach of the Civil Service Act, pointing out that bonus payments must be clearly justified. The first published findings of an audit at the ministry indicated that two employees who worked in Taraba's immediate circle had each received individual bonuses totalling more than €100,000 during 2026. According to the audit findings available so far, more than €2 million in employee bonuses had been paid across the Environment Ministry during the first nine months of 2026. At the time, Deputy Environment Minister Filip Kuffa announced a plan to seek the repayment of bonuses paid by the ministry and commission a review of whether the expenditure had been economical. In response to the audit, Taraba maintained that he had managed the ministry to a very high standard, underlining that he awarded bonuses to employees who deserved them. mf/df