Cerar told national broadcaster TV Slovenija on Saturday that he had received the first interim report from the Finance Ministry regarding the case, adding that a final report would be ready in a week or two.

"I will make sure that the government takes a responsible and very strict decision, if necessary, but not in a way enabling some to score political points in the public," he said.

Cerar's reaction comes after www.podcrto.si, an investigative journalism portal, revealed based on leaked tapes of board meetings it obtained that efforts had been made, some successfully, to give several executives of state-owned companies managed by the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) higher pay than permitted by law.

At one of the meetings caught on tape, BAMC chairman Marko Simoneti proposed employing managers at BAMC for EUR 20,000 gross per month plus topping that up with EUR 10,000 per month on contracts for companies owned by the bad bank.

Simoneti has been urged to step down by the coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) president Karl Erjavec. He said that it was not necessary to wait for reports on the bad bank as the tapes were telling enough.