By: Sara Bertoncelj/Nova24tv
The STA management finally managed to find the address and submit business documentation to the government. STA director Bojan Veselinović said that in this way they want to “prevent the collapse of the STA, the loss of about a hundred jobs and the damage that would be caused by informing the public and damaging the country’s reputation on the eve of its 30th anniversary.” STA reports that after re-consulting with lawyers, they repeatedly accepted the publicly expressed “request” of government representatives, including the Prime Minister and Vice Prime Ministers, of submitting the documentation. Namely, Veselinović demanded that the address for handing over the documentation be provided to him in writing, which, according to him, the government did not do. It is good that Ljubljana is not very big, just imagine how long the documentation would travel in a larger city?
The saga between the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) and the Government Communication Office of Republic of Slovenia (UKOM) began sometime in October last year, when, despite repeated calls and requests from UKOM, STA director Bojan Veselinović did not want to hand over the documentation. UKOM also repeatedly warned the director that his concealment of information could lead to a serious financial problem for the STA, and that he would bear full responsibility for it. However, together with the chairman of the supervisory board, Veselinovič answered the question of how much money UKOM will allocate to him or how much money is in the budget – which was, of course, in complete contradiction with the legal requirement to provide adequate funding. “It is unacceptable that the director of STA and the president of the supervisory board of STA demand illegal conduct from UKOM,” explained UKOM director Uroš Urbanija at the time.
From then until today, it seemed as if there would never be an end to this story. Veselinović accused the government of stopping the financing of the STA, which was not even true, as the Government of the Republic of Slovenia merely accepted the information of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on the inability to implement contract no. 81/2019 on the provision of public service in 2020, concluded with the Slovenian Press Agency. Veselinović did not want to submit documents from which UKOM could deduce STA’s financial operations, so UKOM could not continue with the financing of claims for payment of public service compensation. “I cannot sign invoices I get without justification. That would be absurd and illegal, it would be my criminal responsibility for this kind of behaviour,” said Urbanija. In January this year, the contract between UKOM and STA expired, and a new one was not concluded for the reasons described above. Nevertheless, Veselinović expected that UKOM would pay the bills he sent – to an address which he eventually claimed was unknown to him and therefore was unable to deliver the required documentation.
Today, the STA leadership submitted business documentation to the government headquarters, while Veselinović insists that only the government, as a partner, is allowed to inspect it. Which is completely unnecessary, as the contract states that the government is represented by UKOM, which also finances STA. “These are documents for which the government, as the only partner of the agency with the right to inspect them, did not say to whom and in what way they should be delivered, despite repeated calls from the STA leadership,” STA wrote in a somewhat humorous press release. As we have already noted, the address for the delivery of documentation is exactly the same as the address to which the invoices were sent. The STA director added: “With this move, we want to prevent the collapse of the STA, the loss of hundreds of jobs and the damage that would harm the reputation of the country on the threshold of its 30th anniversary by shutting down an important player in the media market.” Despite the fact that he was the one who led to the dispute between STA and UKOM, and would therefore be completely to blame if STA could no longer operate successfully. In a statement, the STA management emphasised that the government did not request the documentation in the way it should legally and formally, nor did it provide information to whom and in what way they should deliver the required documentation, despite their repeated calls. “But STA operates transparently, so they decided to hand over the documentation. However, they expect the government to treat it legally and respect the confidentiality of documents,” they added.
The contract states that the STA must provide all documentation on the performance of the public service – both financially and legally, as well as in terms of content.
In a press release, they explained that they had provided the government with all required business documents and information based on letters from October and November last year, but not answers to questions about the number of interviews, comparing their length and other questions based on the autonomy of editors, journalists and other authors in creating content and are protected by media legislation. The contract between STA and UKOM stated that the contractor, i.e. STA, must immediately submit all documentation on the performance of the public service to the representative of the founder, i.e. UKOM, at its explicit request – both financially and legally, as well as in terms of content. If the contractor does not cooperate even after a written request, the founder’s representative may stop the payment or even withdraw from the contract without notice, in which case it may also demand the return of the already paid funds, including interest. This contract was signed by Veselinović, but he was obviously ignored its content.
“Despite the fact that there is a clear legal basis for the payment of compensation for the provision of public information services, the management wants to address business concerns and expects the government to release the suspended funding,” the STA management wrote, adding that this is another in a series of steps by which the STA makes it clear that the government is playing with the agency’s fate without arguments. Namely, the management of STA reminded once again that the legislation stipulates that the founder is obliged to finance the public service of STA, in accordance with the business plan of STA. All well and good, if the founder would of course get an insight into the STA’s business plan. In addition, it should be emphasised again that in any case STA receives around 2 million euros a year from the budget.