By: Tanja Brkić / Nova24tv
Marko Bandelli (a member of the Party of Alenka Bratušek – Stranka Alenke Bratušek – SAB), who just last year drove to the National Assembly in a white Porsche and whose wrist is faithfully adorned with a gold Rolex watch, is one of the 37 former MPs who are receiving 80 percent of their salary after not being elected to the National Assembly. Despite being the owner of a concrete plant, he says he cannot get a new job and would rather be compensated with taxpayers’ money, but he remains in limbo until further notice, as Golob apparently wants to set up four additional ministries.
In the past, the former Member of Parliament, Marko Bandelli, boasted of his wealth on several occasions. A gold Rolex, a house with a pool in the Karst region, a weekend house at sea, a boat, travel highlights… Bandelli also owns a group of construction companies that make up the “Bandelli Group,” and yet, he is one of the 36 MPs who cannot return to their previous jobs or find work and have therefore applied for compensation for former MPs. Given that Marko Bandelli is the owner of a well-established concrete plant, the salary compensation is somewhat controversial in his case because, as a capable entrepreneur who often boasts about his sports cars and prestige, he should probably be able to find a job in his own company immediately. If his own family company has a job available for him, the moral thing to do would be for him to take it and not live off the taxpayers’ money. However, this is about something else, namely, the alleged bending of the legislative rules, because the law on salary compensation was not written for people like him.
According to the media outlet “Primorske novice” (“Coastal News”), Bandelli said that he has several job opportunities and that he believes that as the most successful candidate of the SAB party, he could get a position in the economic field, which he said is very familiar territory to him. And if his boastful statements about how good of a businessman he is are true, you cannot help but wonder why he does not just get employed in his own company, because as the owner of a well-established construction company, he could almost certainly find a suitable job for himself within the said company.
According to the media outlet “Regional,” publicly available data show that Bandelli owns the companies “Bandelli GM Gradbeni materiali d.o.o.” (Bandelli GM Construction Materials Ltd.) and “Bandelli Materiali in tehnologije za gradbeništvo d.o.o.” (Bandelli Materials and Technologies for Construction Ltd.). Both are located at the same address in Ajdovščina, where Bandelli has a concrete plant, and the director of both companies is Andreja Bandelli.
As an MP, Bandelli often came to the garage of the National Assembly driving a sports Porsche, while his party, SAB, allegedly stood for equality, social welfare and pensioners. But it is true that he did not buy the car with his MP salary because Bandelli had already entered politics as a wealthy entrepreneur who could afford many expensive toys. He started his political career in 2011 in Zoran Janković’s Positive Slovenia party, founded its local committee in Komen in 2013, was delegated by the party to be a member of the Supervisory Board of RTV Slovenia, and he even briefly served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RTV Slovenia. After the split in the Positive Slovenia party, Bandelli chose the side of then-Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek. In 2014, he was elected as the Mayor of Komen. He already liked Porsche cars back then.
Bandelli also has many photos of his house with a pool in the Karst region on his Facebook page, as well as photos of his boat, his travels, and his meals in prestigious restaurants. When the SAB party was collecting signatures to raise pensions in 2018, many people also noticed the watch on Bandelli’s wrist – a gold Rolex Oyster, which can be worth up to around 20,000 euros.
The SAB party presents itself as a social party, working for a free and solidarity-based state, for pensioners, for affordable public healthcare and for a competitive economy. As an entrepreneur, Bandelli is obviously very well aware that it is more beneficial for him if the money for his salary, taxes and social contributions comes from the state budget, instead of his company. The Deputies Act stipulates that a Member of Parliament whose term in office has ended and who, for objective reasons, is unable to resume his previous work or obtain new employment and who does not meet conditions for retirement is entitled to compensation for his or her salary, equal to 80 percent of the last salary he received as a Member of Parliament. The “Primorske novice” media outlet speculated that Marko Bandelli is waiting for a position in Robert Golob’s government while receiving the compensation salary. However, he is in limbo until further notice because of the referendum on the amendments to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Act, which was proposed by the Slovenian Democratic Party. Because of it, the current government cannot yet set up some of the new ministries, where they will also provide a position for Bandelli, who seems to be unemployable.