By: C. R.
MP and member of the investigative commission for investigating the alleged financial depletion of the company GEN-I, alleged dubious practices related to the company STAR SOLAR Ltd., alleged illegal financing of the political party Gibanje Svoboda, and alleged illegal financing of the Gibanje Svoboda’s election campaign for the regular elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia in 2022, Žan Mahnič, presented the determination of witnesses and investigative actions at today’s press conference, due to which some MPs of the Gibanje Svoboda are no longer members of the investigative commission.
At the beginning of the press conference, MP Žan Mahnič stated that the parliamentary investigative commission session is still ongoing, which the SDS MPs, who are members or substitute members of the commission, are boycotting. The reason for this is that the investigative commission no longer has a chairman and some of its members.
The law on the parliamentary investigative commission is clear. Article 3 clearly states that an MP cannot participate in the investigative commission if they are an investigate or a witness in the case being investigated. Article 12 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Investigative Commission states that the investigative commission must carry out preparatory investigative actions, inform the public about the completed preparatory investigative actions, ask questions to state bodies in connection with the parliamentary investigation, and accept and execute evidence if requested by at least one-third of the members of the investigative commission.
As Žan Mahnič explained, there are 14 members of the commission, and today 5 members requested with a one-third request, which is not discussed or voted on, but is decided and thus valid, to carry out preparatory investigative actions.
He further emphasised that they proposed an evidentiary motion with which they determined 70 witnesses for this investigative commission. Among these witnesses is Tomaž Lah, the chairman of the investigative commission, and some MPs of the Gibanje Svoboda party. From the moment the request was filed with the signatures of one-third of the members of the parliamentary investigative commission, the witnesses can no longer sit in the hall, let alone discuss or lead the commission.
He also highlighted the action of SDS against the MP of the Gibanje Svoboda who abused his position: “Tomaž Lah is no longer a member of the investigative commission, but he still leads the commission, which is an abuse of office. And in SDS, we are already considering filing a criminal complaint against Tomaž Lah.”
He also recalled an identical case within another investigative commission, of which he was a member: “When I was designated as a witness in the case of the investigative commission led by Mojca Šetinc Pašek, I had to get up and leave the hall, the same should be done by the named MPs of the Gibanje Svoboda, but they decided to continue to persist in the session, which is illegal.”
At the end of the press conference, he stated that the MPs of the Gibanje Svoboda are abusing the parliamentary investigative commission and that any decisions that have been or will be made today are invalid. “This investigative commission must now get new leadership, must get new members. I have proposed in a procedural motion that my colleague Rado Gladek, who is the vice-chairman of the investigative commission, take the session forward and then inform the president of the parliament that the Gibanje Svoboda appoints new members, but Tomaž Lah is literally tied to that chair.”