"It is no secret that Cinven plans to ultimately sell Telekom," Mramor told parliament during a Q&A session about the UK private equity fund.

Cinven revealed that much in statements for Slovenian media prior to the final phase of the bidding, Mramor noted.

His statement comes less than two weeks after a public outcry over reports suggesting that Cinven was acting in concert with Deutsche Telekom in an effort to push down the price.

The statement was made for Mladina by Finance Ministry State Secretary Metod Dragonja and corroborated for the STA by Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek.

But Mramor said today he was trying to verify these claims and found "no evidence of concerted action."

Indeed, he suggested the Mladina journalist who broke the story "took the statement out of context", in what had been an informal conversation with Dragonja.

The Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) is currently in talks with Cinven and a final decision is expected within weeks.

Media reports suggest Cinven is willing to raise its original offer but not by as much as the SSH wants.