Siemens. Corruption affair stops here
The Siemens concern reportedly paid bribes in Slovakia during the second half of the 1990s. The company's temporarily suspended manager, Michael Kutschenreuter revealed this to investigators in Munich at the beginning of this week. According to the Wall Street Journal Europe daily, he also claimed to have been witness to the "paying of bribes for energy projects in Russia and Slovakia."
Siemens' Slovakia representatives are not allowed to comment on the cause, but company headquarters in Munich yesterday denied Kutschenreuter's testimony. The Anti-Corruption Office in Bratislava stated that they are not conducting any investigations into the affair at this time.
Billions in corruption
The investigation began a few years ago, but came to a head in November of last year when about two hundred German police officers searched 30 flats and offices of Siemens officials, taking away some thirty-six thousand documents. The concern allegedly gave out 420 million Euros in bribes, almost fifteen billion Slovak crowns. February 1
Jahnátek wants new atomic-power station
Although it is not yet clear when and for how much, Slovak will be constructing new nuclear-power stations. In this way the Government plans to head off the energy shortfall after the scheduled shutdown of two reactors at Jaslovské Bohunice. At a conference yesterday on the future of energy supplies, Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek said, "the price of energy is becoming a significant factor in the determination of economic performance. Therefore it is possible to see throughout the world a return to nuclear energy."
The Government wants to locate its new capacities wither in Jaslovské Bohunice, where it would be possible to use the infrastructures left by the old blocks, or at Kecerovciach, near to Košice. At the moment there are no facilities built there, but it would resolve the problem of lack of capacity in the east of the country, according to Marián Naniaš, energy head at the Ministry.
At the country's other nuclear station in Mochovce, third and fourth blocks are still under construction, with Jahnátek already talking about the possibility of a fifth. "This is far in the realm of possible considerations," Jahnátek's spokesman Branislav Zvara warned. "Large firms from Russia, the USA or France" could participate in the construction. Slovak power station representatives yesterday knew nothing about such a project.
February 5
We spent 56 billion on calls
Slovakia's three largest telecommunications operators -- Orange, T-Mobile and Slovak Telekom -- owe a lot of their success to the growth of the economy and the introduction of new services. According to an Orange estimate, their revenues for the last year amounted to 55,79 billion crowns, a 3,76 billion rise over 2005.
Orange had the biggest slice of the telecommunications market, swallowing 43 percent of the sector's revenues. T-Mobil's share was 29 percent, with Slovak Telekom holding 28 percent. The total revenues of Orange increased over 2005 by 11,6 percent to 23,92 billion crowns.
Orange's greatest jump, 15,7 percent year-on-year, occurred in the area of data services. The operator at the end of year had more than three million active customers, a majority of which were invoiced service accounts. Its share of the mobile communications sector stood at 58 percent last year, an 11 percent inter-year increase.
According to Orange General Director Pavol Lančarič, new 3G services in the UMTS network contributed greatly to the growth of revenues, and at the moment cover all towns with a population of over 20,000. Whereas at the end of the year 173 customers were using the 3G network, today their number stands at 200,000 Zatiaľ čo ku koncu roka využívalo služby 3G siete 173 zákazníkov, dnes ich počet presahuje dvestotisíc. Last year's volume of investments to the operator's network and its infrastructure amounted to 4,5 billion crowns. February 6
Governing HZDS drowning in debt
The governing Ľudová strana- HZDS has a problem, the forty million crown debt it has been carrying for almost ten years. As discovered by HN, it took a loan prior to the 1998 elections, and so far has not repaid even one crown of this. "We have agreed a payment schedule," central party secretary "Zdenka Kramplová claimed.
Secret benefactor
However, the unpaid loans surprised the head of the NGO Fair- Play Alliance, Zuzana Wienk, who has been concentrating on the financing of political parties for some time. "This could mean trouble."
The People's Party is not willing to reveal the name of its unknown "benefactor". Originally this was reportedly the wish of the creditor himself, but now Kramplová is claiming that it has no legal responsibility to do so. Reliable sources familiar with the financing of ĽS- HZDS have confirmed for us that private firms are behind the loans to Vladimír Mečiar's party.
Who's giving what to who
"The party has no reason to conceal the source of the loan if it wishes to retain the trust of the public," Wienk emphasized. She also pointed out the serious risks involved: The creditors may strongly influence decisions on the party's nominations to public posts, with an unwished-for effect on the tax-payer's pocketbook. February 7