Valentin Hajdinjak has stepped down as chairman of the board of the state-run motorway company DARS in the wake of media reports about alleged corruption and rigged tenders at the company.

Addressing reporters on 7 November, a day after resigning, Hajdinjak suggested he was forced out, reiterating that he had not been involved in any unlawful practices and never obtained any kickbacks.

He said he had been given hints several times in the past year that it would be good if he withdrew from the position. "Since I didn't do that, a media fabrication followed."

He said he resigned because it was no longer possible to work in the situation arising after the commercial broadcaster POP TV run its report on 22 October in which a whistleblower alleged rife corruption, kickbacks, blackmail, the favouring of selected suppliers and rigged public tenders at DARS.

Media have cited unofficial sources in saying that Hajdinjak, who was appointed to the post under the previous government in July 2020, was given two options; to step down or be served a for-cause dismissal.

He confirmed that by saying that the for-cause dismissal on the table of the supervisory board session the day before was extortion, which he said he could prove in court but chose not to bother with it.

"I decided to leave with my head held high, without a severance package, even though I'm convinced that even if I was dismissed for cause I'd prove in court that it was unwarranted," he said.

He said his replacement was odd because the supervisory board chairman changed his mind overnight about him after telling a parliamentary commission in late October that the management worked well and enjoyed his trust. The supervisors also said at the time that the alleged wrongdoing happened under the previous management boards.

Andrej Šušteršič, the head of the DARS supervisory board, told late night news show on TV Slovenija on 6 November that Hajdinjak "resigned to ensure DARS is not held hostage by media reports".

Considering that the supervisory board decided to carry out a forensic audit into deals for which wrongdoing was alleged, Hajdinjak would get the chance to prove his innocence, he said.

In his place, the supervisory board appointed chief financial officier David Skornšek for an interim period of six months.

Hajdinjak, who before his appointment to DARS served as a vice-chairman of the Christian democratic party New Slovenia, was one of the few officials from the opposition ranks to keep his post after the centre-left government of Robert Golob took over in June 2022.

He said he stayed on when other board members were replaced early in 2023 because the company worked well and he believed that with new members of the supervisory and management boards it would be possible to work well and take on the many projects ahead.

"I'm afraid the sole aim of those who orchestrated the media fabrication was for DARS to fall prey to various interests," he said.

He said public tenders at DARS involved a lot of money and interests. One such is for the towing of broken lorries, where the whistleblower talking to POP TV alleged rigging. The affiliated 24ur news portal reported that DARS suspended the tender on 6 November.

Under Hajdinjak's guide DARS started work on the construction of a second tube of the Karavanke border motorway tunnel and the project to build the north-south expressway. It also introduced e-vignettes for cars and imposed an overtaking ban for lorries.