Slovenian media have reported that Hungarian companies which are investing capital in expanding their media operations across the EU also carried out transactions within the Republic of Slovenia. Media also revealed the alleged amount of transactions which private companies legally performed in their business operations within the framework of EU banking regulations.
Therefore the leadership and the owners of companies Nova24TV in Nova hiša requested to inquire whether the basic principles of banking business in the Republic of Slovenia are still in compliance with EU rules. In fact they note that the secrecy of bank deposits in such disclosures is more than obviously not guaranteed.
So the legal representative of the companies Mr. Aleš Hojs addressed the letter to the leadership of the Unicredit Bank Slovenia and asked for explanations.
»Yesterday the media reported that Hungarian companies investing capital in expanding their media operations across the EU were also expected to carry out transactions within the Republic of Slovenia. Since they also disclosed the alleged amount of transactions legally performed by private companies in their business operations within the framework of EU banking regulations, the owners of our company requested that we inquire whether the basic principles of banking business in the Republic of Slovenia are still in compliance with EU rules. They note that the secrecy of bank deposits in such disclosures is more than obviously not guaranteed,« he wrote and continued:
»Following the inquiries of our journalists, the said information was to be provided to the media by a member of the parliamentary committee, Member of the List Marjan Sarc, Mr. Alojz Kovačič and Commission Expert Klemen Deaf. Because we want to provide the owners with credible information, it is not important to us who disclosed the information to the media, but how they accessed it. More than obvious, this information can only be obtained through the intermediation of bank transactions by the banks that conducted the transactions. According to the assurances of the bank we do business with (Nova kreditna banka Maribor), they did not provide this information to the commission themselves, as they are aware of the powers and obligations they have towards their clients.«
He asked Mr. Marco Giuseppe Esposito who leads the Unicredit Bank in Slovenia following questions:
»1. Have you provided information on transactions by private companies that are legal and carried out within the EU banking system to a parliamentary committee
2. Have you informed your customer of this information (in this case, R-Post Media)?
3. Whether your bank ensures the secrecy of bank deposits and operations?«
At the end Aleš Hojs wrote: »As the answers to the above questions are very important for the further decisions of our owners regarding the possible actions against your bank, I kindly ask you to provide us with the answers as soon as possible. In view of the questionability of the business we are witnessing in the Slovenian banking system, we also send the memo to the regulator of the banking system for the Bank of Slovenia and to the headquarters of Unicredit Bank in Milan.«
Mr. Hojs sent the letter also to the Bank of Slovenia and to the headquarters of the Unicredit Bank in Milan for their information.