By: Sara Kovač / Nova24tv.si
The case of financing Gen-I to likeable journalists at the expense of the state, which was revealed by Požareport in March, is clearly still without an epilogue. After Golob’s company Gen-I did not want to disclose the contract with the company, which for some time was run by journalist Vesna Vuković from the Necenzurirano portal, run by tycoon Martin Odlazek, the information commissioner got involved in the whole case. She called on the company to disclose the necessary information and concluded that the public is not entitled to information as to why Robert Golob paid Vuković’s company 103 thousand euros.
From the recent decision of the information commissioner, it can be seen that Golob’s Gen-I contract with SEE M. & C., founded and managed for a long time by Necenzurirano portal’s journalist Vesna Vuković, was signed in 2019. This year, according to Erar 3,660 euros were transferred. However, since Gen-I was not predominantly owned by the state at the time the contract and annexes were signed, according to the information commissioner, the state is not obliged to disclose to the public the reasons for remittances to the company of the Necenzurirano portal’s journalist.
Let’s remember. Vuković founded a private company in 2017 and then transferred it in 2019 to another person, funded by none other than Gen-I under Golob’s leadership. Bojan Požar revealed that the case was not about paying for advertisements, advertising, or paying for content published on the portal for which Vuković writes, but about transferring funds through fictitious “consulting contracts” to the transaction account of a privately owned company. In all this, it should be emphasised that this company does not represent the owner of the portal. Nor can it be argued that it is a marketing agency, as one might expect. Namely, it is a company dedicated to business consulting. Both Gen-I and Vuković paid money for the time period and for which services they have not wanted to disclose to date. In the case of Gorenje, which transferred money to SEE M. & C. at the time when it was run by Vuković, there were no problems with explanations for the reasons for doing business. The explanation came in one day. According to Siol, the company of the future Minister of Finance Klemen Boštjančič is among the companies that found themselves on Vuković’s payment company.
Information commissioner: This is not public information
At the end of the appeal procedure, which was conducted by the information commissioner at the request of TSmedia, the information commissioner explained that “since the contract with SEE M. & C. was not concluded at the time when GEN-I was obliged to provide public information nature, it is not information of a public nature.” They also revealed that the contract with the annexes was concluded on July 22nd, 2019, April 8th, 2020, July 29th, 2020, and March 30th, 2021. In the light of this, the information commissioner assessed whether Gen-I was at that time liable for the provision of public information, i.e., whether the State was the one that enjoyed a dominant influence on the basis of the majority share of the subscribed capital or whether it had the right control of the majority and whether it was able to appoint more than half of the members to the management and supervisory body.
They explained that according to Article 4.a of the Access to Public Information Act (ZDIJZ), those business entities that are under the dominant influence of public law, are obliged to provide only those information from legal transactions that arose during the time when they were under the dominant influence of the state. Moreover, they added: “Who is liable for the provision of information of a public nature, derives from the Register of taxpayers for information of a public nature, which according to Article 3b. of the ZDIJZ is of an informative nature only. If a legal entity is entered in the register, it is presumed to be liable, but the legal entity may refuse access to the information if it proves that it does not meet the conditions for a liable party or that the information was generated at a time when it was not under the predominant influence of bodies governed by public law.”
The information commissioner had to determine whether Gen-I was liable for the provision of public information under the ZDIJZ at the time the information was generated. Regarding the appeal procedure, they explained that the information commissioner, at the request of GEN-I, extended the deadline for submitting documentation, but the decision was still made within the legal deadline. The appeal was received on April 13th, 2022, and the decision was issued within two months.
“Based on the documentation and facts, information commissioner concluded that GEN-I was not a business entity under the predominant influence of public law entities in this period, whereas, regarding the manner of determining the predominant influence, it was based on the judgment of the Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia no. IU 350 / 2017-21 of August 22nd, 2018. It follows from the judgment that the ownership shares of the state cannot be easily added together to meet the condition of dominant influence from Article 1.a of the ZDIJZ, but only the shares of those companies which are themselves majority owned by bodies governed by public law may be considered. As the concept of two equal partners in GEN-I does not deviate significantly from the established factual situation from the judgment even on the relevant dates, the conditions from para. 1.a of the ZDIJZ regarding the dominant influence are not given, which means that the company GEN-I was not under the dominant influence of public law entities. Therefore, since GEN-I was not bound by ZDIJZ and ZMed at that time, information commissioner did not have a legal basis for further assessment or required information that represents information of a public nature under Article 4.a of ZDIJZ. Therefore, the information commissioner did not comment on the possible existence of public interest – even if the information is otherwise of interest to the public, it is not freely available, if the company at the time of its creation was not obliged to access public information,” wrote the information commissioner in a response, according to Siol.
The money in the SEE M. & C account was dripping
As we have already reported, the fact is that the money was dripping from the Gen-I account to the SEE M. & C account. This is evidenced by Erar’s graph, which reveals a January transfer in the amount of 3,660 euros. So at least that much was indicated.
SEE M. & C., Ltd was founded by Vuković in 2017. She was also its director. On March 18th, 2019, she then transferred its ownership to Mitja Zorka, who is unknown to the public. As we have already written, it is known that he has a home in Celje in the neighborhood of Primož Cirman, an editor and another writer of Necenzurirano portal. At the same time, Požar wondered if it was all a coincidence. Interestingly, however, after the affair came to light, there was a change in company ownership.
E-benefits reveal that on March 15th this year, SEE M. & C., business consulting Ltd renamed to KCA, business consulting and measures Ltd, and on April 13th Zorko resigned as the owner. Cirman, a collaborator of Vuković, became the new director, and MEDIA PARTNER AGENCIJA Ltd, which is 100% owned by Svet24 Ltd, is the 100% owner of the company. As is known, the latter is owned by Martin Odlazek’s ex-wife Alena Nardini (formerly Alenka Odlazek).
In addition to Golob, Vuković’s company is supposedly financed by the future Minister of Finance Klemen Boštjančič, who supposedly transferred 34 thousand euros to the company through his advisory centre Brio. As already mentioned, Gorenje, which has been owned by the Chinese company Hisense since 2018, had contracts with the company in various periods from 2017 to 2019, more specifically during the search for a strategic partner and before, during and immediately after the takeover procedure. However, they did not explain the amount.