By: N. Ž. (Nova 24TV)
“Acting Director General or the new President of the Management Board of RTV Slovenia, Zvezdan Martić, has embarked on a managerial, almost epic journey,” highlighted Bojan Požar regarding the recent changes in the position of acting head of the Multimedia Centre at RTV Slovenia. However, Martić did not stop there, as he also initiated the process of extraordinary dismissal against the acting director of TVS, magus Uroš Urbanija. “This is bizarre, perverse,” says Urbanija, adding that the argument for his removal is an insult to common sense.
Zvezdan Martić initially replaced Anže Ančimer and appointed Marjanca Plaznik as the acting head of the Multimedia Centre at RTV Slovenia. Plaznik was then rapidly replaced by Tomaž Drnovšek. Drnovšek’s position has now been taken over by Katarina Jakopič. “If the previous Director General of RTV Slovenia, Andrej Grah Whatmough, had done anything remotely similar, the media would have torn him apart, but now they are silent. As if nothing is happening…,” criticises Bojan Požar.
In response to Martić’s appointments, acting Director of Televizija Slovenija, Uroš Urbanija, used the social media platform Twitter to announce that Martić had initiated an extraordinary dismissal process against him. “On the last day of his mandate as acting Director General of RTVS, Zvezdan Martić initiated an extraordinary dismissal process against the acting Director of TVS,” he highlighted, adding that the reason for this move was particularly bizarre. “Because in March 2023, I granted some authorisations to a long-standing finance assistant, who had held this position for more than 25 years under at least 5 directors at TVS. To make matters even more bizarre: Martić claims that Grah Whatmough did not authorise this.” In relation to the news about the initiation of the dismissal process against Televizija Slovenija’s Director, Uroš Urbanija, which Martić started yesterday on the grounds of fault, Požar reminded that Martić requires the consent of the RTV Council for this action.
We decided to seek a comment from Urbanija. For our media outlet, he stated that despite well-defined legal obligations, the RTV law, including the amendment passed by the Golob government, as well as the commitments made by acting Director General Zvezdan Martić during the recent RTV Council meeting, to not interfere with practically any aspect of RTV’s operations during his tenure as Director General, and to essentially maintain the status quo, the current acting Director General, who officially became the President of the Management Board yesterday when the board became fully operational, has been implementing quite drastic personnel moves. “Practically on his first day of his 10-day tenure, he dismissed the acting head of the Multimedia Centre. Within that time, he then changed the head of the Multimedia Centre twice more, appointing them himself. In these 10 days, we already have the third head of the MMC,” he explained.
Urbanija: The allegation is more or less bizarre
“Yesterday, he informed me about the process of extraordinary dismissal due to fault,” Urbanija emphasised, adding that the alleged reason for the dismissal is more or less bizarre. “During the tenure of the previous Director General, in March, I signed a financial authorisation for the finance officer at Televizija Slovenija, who has been in this role for 25 years and has served as an assistant to all directors of the television station from Janez Lombergar onwards. She was also an assistant to Natalija Gorščak, Valentin Areh, Ljerka Bizilj, and even Jože Možina.” Urbanija states that he granted her the authorisation, but Martić accuses him of not receiving permission from the previous Director General to give this authorisation to the finance officer. “This is bizarre, perverse. We will see how things unfold,” he said, adding that he has no doubt that the RTV Council will handle the matter as usual, in line with established practice and similar to what happens in totalitarian regimes, and that it will be accepted unanimously.
No accusation that the finance officer did anything wrong
When asked if he would appeal, he answered in the affirmative and explained that he would clarify matters if given the opportunity. Regarding the argument presented against him, he says that in a sense, it is an insult to common sense. “Clearly, they were in a hurry to write something on the last day of their mandate, which fundamentally is not true or does not hold water.” He states that he is curious about how he will have to prove his dismissal was unjustified. “On the other hand, this finance officer who had the authorisation did not cause any harm to RTV or anything else. That is the other part of the story, which is actually completely clear. She acted in good faith. She did everything well, and there is no accusation that anything was done wrong.”
He recalls a similar situation with the acting Director General of RTVS, Grah Whatmough, where they accused him of reasons that were evidently baseless. They accused him, for instance, of not providing them with the Čeferin Law Firm. “Let’s be honest, I did not provide the Čeferin Law Firm because I was temporarily replacing the Director General at that time, and I signed a resolution that I could not do so explicitly because it would be illegal if I specifically enabled one law firm for them. Clearly, in a totalitarian state, you can attribute things to someone that they evidently did not do and accuse them of being guilty.”
According to Urbanija, the previous Director General was dismissed 10 days before the end of his mandate, and today, there would be a handover of duties. “The same goes for me, as far as I am concerned. If they dismiss me, it will be 10–14 days before the end of the mandate, as the law stipulates,” Urbanija concluded.