The Slovenia Times

Bad Message for Investors: Anti-Graft Team Quits After Three Turbulent Years

Nekategorizirano

7


When taking over for a six-year term from long-standing anti-graft boss Drago Kos in September 2010, the commission's new head Goran Klemenčič announced a qualitative leap in the work of the commission.

One of the key projects of the new team at the start of the term was Supervizor, a web-based application providing public insight into the cash flow between the public and private sectors, while clashes with politicians soon started making headlines.

One of the first targets was Klemenčič's former boss at the Interior Ministry Katarina Kresal, as the commission said that the actions of officials at the ministry, which decided to rent premises owned by a friend of Kresal, matched the definition of corruption. Kresal resigned as a result.

The anti-graft body moreover took on a number of deals by Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler, which added fuel to the brewing resistance in the city and eventually led to his replacement.

A report by the commission on the assets of the heads of parliamentary parties, released in January 2013, had even bigger repercussions, as the commission found that Janša and the then opposition leader Zoran Janković had gravely violated anti-corruption legislation and were not able to fully account for their assets.

The report led to a change in power, as several coalition parties left Janša's government over his failure to resign, while Janković stepped down as the head of Positive Slovenia (PS) but not as the mayor of Ljubljana.

The commission moreover drew up a list of measures in the summer to propose it to parliament in order to make the planned new wave of privatisation and the bad bank project more transparent.

Although scrutinising officials across the political spectrum, Klemenčič's team has been the target of accusations since the start. The heaviest attacks came from Janša's Democrats (SDS), who claimed the commission was biased and violating legislation or using constitutionally questionable provisions.

The issue of the commission being perceived as biased was already raised before the current line-up was appointed, by economist Jože Končan, who refused his nomination for the body's three-member presidency.

He argued that the other members - Klemenčič, who had served as state secretary at the Interior Ministry, and former Dnevnik journalist Rok Praprotnik - were publicly seen as affiliated with one political option. Criminal law expert Liljana Selinšek took his place.

Slovenia has meanwhile not been performing that well in global anti-corruption rankings, with a recent Transparency International (TI) report on the implementation of OECD Anti-Bribery Convention placing it among the countries with worst record.

Another TI survey, released in July, showed that Slovenians see political parties as the most corrupt systemic formation in the country.

Share:

More from Nekategorizirano