Economy Minister Matjaž Han has accepted the resignation offered by the director of the SPIRIT investment promotion agency, Rok Capl, after several media questioned the selection of recipients of EU funds in a €83 million call for the restructuring of coal regions.

The business news portal Finance has reported that two of the biggest recipients of EU Just Transition Funds for the restructuring of Slovenia's two coal regions were small affiliated companies with just a handful of employees.

Minister Han ordered an audit, which is ongoing, and SPIRIT asked the companies to provide explanations, and based on information obtained, annulled the selection of the two companies, VonPharma, which was due to get €10 million, and Vital QI, which was allocated €9.7 million.

Recipients with links to SocDems

VonPharma, which sells food supplements, had four employees in 2023 and €1.3 million in total revenue. It has recently built a production plant in Velenje. Vital QI had one employee and €24,000 in revenue in 2023.

Both companies are owned by Tadej Von Horvath, a former member of the youth wing of the Social Democrats (SD), the party now led by Minister Han, the investigative news portal Necenzurirano pointed out.

Finance has identified another recipient with links to Han's party, which has a strong base in the Savinja-Šalek coal region; the company Bona J is owned by a niece of prominent party member Sandi Češko.

Češko, who used to own a sprawling business empire that has since collapsed, told the portal the company owned by his niece would buy the technology to produce mattresses from a company he owns.

No funds disbursed yet

Forbes Slovenia reported that sources close to the European Commission said the situation was being closely watched.

In the wake of the reports, Capl offered his resignation on 21 January but said he was confident the audit ordered by the minister would show the agency acted in accordance with the terms of the open call.

Accepting his resignation, Minister Han told reporters on 22 January that "few people in the country are capable of accepting objective responsibility and assuming the consequences so quickly".

He pointed out that "none of the companies selected in the call have received a single cent" and that no contract has yet been signed. That will only happen once the audit is completed.

"Crooks" should not jeopardise other projects

He thanked the media for pointing out the issues. He said he had called on the Court of Audit to review the open call. The service responsible for monitoring how EU funds are spent will also look into the matter.

According to his information, SPIRIT has filed a criminal complaint in the case of the two related recipients whose selection it annulled. Han hopes these two will not jeopardise the other projects successful in the call.

"I will not let the prospect of better, safer jobs for people in the region be dashed because of some crooks," he said, referring to the fatal accident at the Velenje coal mine earlier this week.

He confirmed that the owner of the two disqualified recipients had been a member of the SocDems' youth wing a few years ago, before Han's time as party chairman, but said he did not know him personally.

He does not find it problematic that several prominent party members were successful in the call.