By: Gašper Blažič
The hearing in the Trenta case at the Celje District Court lasted until late afternoon. The questioning of witnesses did not reveal anything that was not already known. The court heard testimonies from three former leaders at Imos: Mojca Dovžan, Polonca Majer, and Jože Novak, who is now the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment in Golob’s government. Due to health reasons, the accused Klemen Gantar was not present at the trial.
The testimony of landscape architect and first CEO of Imos, Jože Novak, was surprisingly straightforward. Novak initially served as an assistant to the main defendant, Branko Kastelic, for project development at the mentioned construction company, and just before the real estate group’s bankruptcy, he became its director.
However, it was somewhat comical that Judge Cvetka Posilovič did not recognise the minister. Or perhaps she was simply asking for formal reasons during the identification process, inquiring who his employer was, despite having all his information in the file.
Minister explained that the properties in Trenta could have been developed
As Minister Novak explained today in his testimony, which lasted more than two hours, he only encountered the properties in Trenta in 2014 when they were looking to sell them, while he had no prior knowledge about the purchase of the 15,000-square-meter land with an old farmhouse in Triglav National Park (TNP). Just like with many other larger projects, including Tobačna and Litostrojska, he was responsible for preparing the project with the goal of generating profit. In this specific case, they had three possible solutions for the property: developing a tourism business, renovating the existing buildings, or converting the existing structure to allow for residential use by dividing one floor into three. One of these would be in the basement, which would have been possible despite restrictions in Triglav National Park.
This essentially means that TNP does not impose such restrictions that would drastically lower the value of the former Janša estate.
Unfortunately, the plans for the property in Trenta did not succeed because the banks “drew a line” through them due to the financial and real estate crisis. As a result, they attempted to salvage what they could by selling some properties. One of these was the property in Trenta, for which Novak received an offer from an interested party worth one hundred thousand euros. Since internal company assessments valued the property at at least 120,000 or 130,000 euros, he decided not to proceed with the sale, as he did not want to harm Imos. However, he could not explain why two appraisers (Breda Zorko and Nikolaja Kogovšek Gilčvert) had valued the land at around twenty thousand euros. According to him, despite the restrictions, the land within TNP is located in an elite area, similar to coastal land and other prime locations. Regarding why Imos had purchased them in the first place, he confirmed that during favourable real estate market conditions, investors bought land speculatively, using their own funds.
Court forced a statement that Imos management concealed the Trenta deal
Two former Imos employees, Polonca Mayer and Mojca Dovžan, in what was otherwise a tiring and lengthy questioning session – Mitja Majnik also appeared in court but did not get his turn – did not reveal anything significantly new. Perhaps only that they did not recall much and had little involvement in dealings with Eurogradnje, the company from which they had bought Janša’s former property in Trenta. The court apparently wanted Mayer to confirm that Imos management concealed certain deals from their legal department, deals they did not want made public, and presented her with statements she had made during the criminal investigation.
Dovžan similarly recalled almost nothing, except that properties were bought speculatively at the time, and that for deals of such low value, there was no need to inform all company departments since Director Kastelic had full authority to sign contracts. Appraisers were usually not hired for purchases unless it was required by banks for loan purposes.
The witness testimonies lasted a total of seven hours.
A very interesting timeline, also connected with “Logarising”
Janez Janša, who is not formally the main defendant in this process but is certainly the primary target of the deep state, made the following statement to the media before today’s hearing: “Week by week, there is a very clear, evident political process against the president of the largest opposition party, for a matter from 20 years ago that is not even a criminal offense. The timing is very interesting. Everything has been arranged so that the expected conclusion of this trial at the first instance, and then at the second, coincides with the timelines connected to the upcoming elections.” According to Janša, the ultimate goal of the pact between the Celje court and the prosecutors is likely not even a conviction, but a statute of limitations, which would leave the accused in a position where they are forever criticised, with people saying, “He is guilty, but he escaped justice,” while the process drags on into the pre-election period, which, due to the imminent collapse of Golob’s government, is fast approaching. Despite this, one of the two prosecutors, Boštjan Valenčič, had previously told the media that the worst outcome of the case would be its expiration due to the statute of limitations.
The process in the Trenta case also coincides with the new political appearance of Anže Logar, which strongly recalls the earlier involvement of Gregor Virant. Let’s recall: in 2013, following an intervention by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC), Virant undermined Janša’s second government for the same reason Janša is now on trial. At that time, the CPC had targeted Janša’s allegedly suspicious real estate deals, but as we know, the CPC report, which also implicated Zoran Janković, was later overturned in court. However, it was too late, as the damage had already been done. Virant and Karl Erjavec, who is now returning to politics, supported Alenka Bratušek in a vote of no confidence to become prime minister. She received congratulations even before the votes were counted. When photographer Jani Božič revealed this, it resulted in his criminal prosecution and eventual exile to the United Kingdom.
SDS has previously cooperated with parties from the opposing camp
“In the time when this Trenta process is escalating, a new party is being formed that aims to siphon off the voter base of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), and as I said, we have already gone through this once with the Patria process, and now the exact same scenario is playing out,” Janša commented on Logar’s recent exit from the party and the establishment of a new one. Yesterday, Eva Irgl joined Logar, and it seems that Dejan Kaloh could follow as early as tomorrow.
In a statement on the sidelines of the Trenta trial today, Janša expressed surprise at the timing of Logar’s party announcement. “Mr. Logar also mentioned within the party that he would go his own way and announced he would establish the party six months before the next elections,” he said. According to him, Logar’s plan to establish the party by the end of the year says a lot, including that preliminary parliamentary elections are likely being prepared for next spring. In recent days, the SDS president also commented on Logar’s independent political path in posts on the social network X, where Logar has been promoting a party of political breadth and emphasising cooperation in his speeches. Janša pointed out that SDS has already, on three occasions while forming a government, included left-leaning parties in its coalition. “Both DeSUS and SMC, as well as concluding a Partnership for Development with Pahor’s Social Democrats,” he recalled.
According to him, when it comes to cooperation, SDS has never been and still is not the problem. “The Virant2 project (a reference to Gregor Virant’s former party, Državljanska Lista, ed.) was not launched for cooperation, but for exactly the opposite reason: to prevent SDS from winning and enable an exclusionary government – without cooperation with SDS. Only a government with SDS, with its personnel potential, knowledge, experience, and operational capabilities, is capable of leading the country independently, free from the direct influence of the power brokers and the deep state,” the SDS president firmly believes.
At the end of today’s hearing, Janša told the TV Slovenija team regarding the marathon trial, which is causing him to lose valuable time: “Imagine the advantage this gives the political competition, which in these hundred days can focus solely on politics.” He did not respond when asked if he still maintains his innocence.