By: Moja Dolenjska
The internal auditor and forensic investigator Suzana Hötzl, working at the Ministry of Justice, who in her more than 100-page report regarding the purchase of a building on Litijska Street highlighted a severe violation of the Public Finance Act and pointed to the responsibility of Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič and Prime Minister Robert Golob, was greeted with a warning of termination of her employment contract for culpable reasons upon returning to work after medical leave.
According to Nova24TV, Suzana Hötzl was handed a warning the very minute she returned to work, accusing her of actions during the internal audit of the building at Litijska 51 that might conflict with the ministry’s regulations.
Specifically, she is accused of including in her audit processes, procedures, and responsible persons beyond the scope of the ministry’s internal audit jurisdiction, such as actions under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The ministry claims that auditing processes outside its own authority exceeded her mandate as well as that of the Ministry of Justice’s internal audit service.
Hötzl is further accused of excluding public officials Ana Pirc Bricelj and Lucija Remec from the internal audit process. Pirc Bricelj led the Real Estate and Investment Service from February 19th to April 22nd this year, while Remec took over from April 23rd onward. Although both were familiar with the draft audit report and submitted written comments on it, the ministry alleges that “by not involving them in the audit process from the beginning, they were denied equal participation in the internal audit proceedings”.
The warning concluded with a threat that if Hötzl does not comply with the notice and commits another breach of her employment obligations within six months, her employment contract could be terminated for culpable reasons.
The situation strongly suggests retaliation, likely because her audit report implicated Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič and Prime Minister Robert Golob.
To recap, in early December last year, Boštjančič and then-Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan agreed to allocate funds for the purchase of the building on Litijska. The government reallocated these funds from the state reserve, which constitutes a violation of the Public Finance Act. This was pointed out by the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia and also by Hötzl in her audit report, which now appears to be the reason for her superiors’ apparent retribution.