By: Domen Mezeg / Nova24tv
Last year, we already reported on the obvious double standards of the President of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, Robert Šumi. As we have previously written, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption has launched an investigation into the appointment of lawyer Franci Matoz as the chief non-executive director of the Banks Assets Management Company (BAMC). As it turns out, the Commission has finally managed to find the needle in the haystack that it had been looking for so desperately. Namely, according to the Commission, there is a conflict of interest in the case of lawyer Franci Matoz, as he is also the private lawyer of the current Prime Minister Janez Janša and the ruling Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS). And the claim that the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption shows signs of an institution beginning to operate as political police is also proven by the fact that it is not “able” to prosecute the actual worrying cases of conflicts of interest, for example, in the cases of President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel, or former President of the Management Board of the Gen-I energy company, Robert Golob.
After the government of Janez Janša appointed lawyer Franci Matoz to the position of non-executive director of the Bank Assets Management Company, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, under the leadership of its current President, Robert Šumi, began to deal with the case. A little more than a week ago, the Commission found that in the case of Matoz’s appointment, Prime Minister Janša should have excluded himself from the process. And because he did not do it, a conflict of interest supposedly happened. As the institution states in its report, Matoz is also the private lawyer for both the President of the SDS, as well as his ruling party. The Commission is the plaintiff and the one who made the judgments in this case, but Janša has the option to appeal its findings.
In a similar way, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption also persecuted Franc Kangler some time ago. Kangler was being accused of violation of integrity due to his participation in the demands of the National Assembly regarding the parliamentary investigation into the abuse of power in Kangler’s case, when he lost his mandate as a councillor in the National Council. The Constitutional Court found that this was a violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. But when the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption should actually take action, and when there are serious violations or conflicts of interest happening, it simply does not react. For example, the Commission did not forward the evidence to prove that the President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel, got its confirmation to work for FIFA “in the afternoons,” which has brought him a salary in the amount of 200,000 euros a year, while he is also running the Court of Audit, which is a state institution.
It should also be pointed out that Vesel finally showed his political colours with his appearance in Ljubljana’s Kino Šiška, where, in December, the transitional left’s newest candidate for the position of Prime Minister, Robert Golob, organised an inciting rally, where he called for the expulsion of fascists in a very Putin-like manner. Vesel is also under the strong influence of his close colleague, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, who is also a great lobbyist for various interests of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, especially at the top of European football. He was also said to be lobbying for the Russian Sberbank. Vesel was also supposedly the failed candidate of the deep state for the leading position in the so-called Constitutional Arch Coalition (which actually consists of the left-wing parties of the current opposition). And thus, we come back to Golob (the current candidate of the deep state), who we have repeatedly reported on – mainly that he should also be investigated by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption did not disclose that Glavina got a job at the branch of the energy company Gen-I in Milan in an extremely controversial manner
Let us also remind you of the details of the departure of one of the main players from the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which became known in December of last year. Namely, former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec wanted to put one of his people at the top of the Sovereign Holding, and he wanted to get rid of Glavina, who was appointed during the previous, Cerar government. However, it is still not clear how Glavina actually got to the top of Sovereign Holding. As it turns out, Cerar allegedly did not appoint her to the very important position. Instead, she was appointed by others, but we still do not know who they were, exactly. According to some information, this was a secret operation by some informants of the former State Security Service of Yugoslavia, who, after the break-up of the former country, skilfully entered the business sector. Of course, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption did not disclose that after her dismissal, Glavina obtained employment at the Milan branch of the Gen-I energy company in an extremely controversial way. Behind all of this is an agreement that was made between Robert Golob and Alenka Bratušek.
However, this is proof that Golob traded in state-owned property, together with the leadership of the Šarec government. The media have previously also reported on the disputed Milan branch. For example, Planet TV revealed that it is a controversial branch of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding with not one but two directors, and a miserable net profit (only 15 thousand euros in 2020). The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption’s latest ruling in the story of Glavina, corruption and embezzlement of state money, must be viewed in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections, which will take place in just over a month. The controversial personnel changes and everything related to them took place during Šarec’s government, which is a clear signal to the then-Prime Minister and his adviser (who was also often called snitch) – Damir Črnčec, that the post-communist left had already written them off.
Golob’s salary was also being investigated by the police
Recently, we also wrote about the fact that the salary of the President of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) and the long-time President of the Management Board of the Gen-I company, Robert Golob, was also being investigated by the police. Srečko Budič, a criminal inspector from the Novo mesto Police Department, will deal with a complaint filed against Golob and the Gen Supervisory Board, on suspicion of committing criminal offenses, in the pre-trial proceedings. The criminal complaint, based on suspicion of criminal offences by the long-time director of Gen-I, Robert Golob, and the supervisory board of GEN, was filed by Vili Kovačič. Kovačič, who holds the position of President of the Taxpayers Are Not Giving Up Association, filed the complaint on Monday, the 14th of February 2022.
As can be seen from the notice sent by the Novo mesto Police Administration to Kovačič, the police investigation has already begun. According to the annual report of the Gen company, Golob received a total of 214,043 euros net in 2020, which, according to our calculations, amounts to approximately 540 thousand euros gross. According to the annual report, Golob received 75,399 euros net in fixed salaries in 2020 (which amounts to 6,283.25 euros per month), in addition to which he also received 10,359 euros in flexible additions to salaries (863.25 euros per month) and a performance award in the amount of 114,986 euros net, along with other allowances (12,127 euros net).
President of the Freedom Movement blatantly violated Lahovnik’s law
Golob probably did not lie in the overview of his salary and showed the correct salary (the fixed and flexible parts), but he deliberately withheld his fabulous financial award from the people, which is 50 percent higher than his annual salary. When the Gen-I Management Board took office in 2018 with a new four-year term, Golob’s salary at Gen-I rose sharply. The year before, Golob received an annual salary of 191,000 euros gross. The amount in question was in accordance with Lahovnik’s law, which limits the salaries and awards in state-owned companies. As already mentioned, Golob then earned 235 thousand euros net in 2018. Despite the restrictions arising from Lahovnik’s law, Golob’s salary almost doubled. A year later, he received 159 thousand euros net, and in 2020, 214 thousand euros net, which represents approximately 18 thousand euros net on a monthly basis.