STA, 29 August 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, the leader of the ruling Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), dismissed on Thursday Brane Kralj as the party's secretary general following a report against him which claims that Kralj had tried to exert staffing pressure. Šarec told the press he had not been aware of the controversial phone call.
The decision comes after the party launched a debate on the allegations, saying it would take action regarding the incident.
Kralj has been reported to the authorities by the chief supervisor of Uradni List, Irena Prijović, who claims that he called her and tried to secure a top job at the state-owned publisher of the Official Gazette for former MEP Igor Šoltes and exert staffing pressure on her.
After holding talks with Kralj, Šarec concluded that "the truth is somewhere in between and that it was not that brutal".
"I trust Kralj more than some other people who would have probably not reported the issue if the caller was someone of the right kind," said Šarec, adding that this was a "one person's word against another one's" incident.
According to the prime minister, Kralj did however behave in a naive, inexperienced and incorrect manner, with the phone call being inappropriate.
The tweet that started it all#Požareport - Ekskluzivno razkritje:
— BojanPožar (@BojanPozar) August 29, 2019
Kako je "vaški fant" Brane Kralj, generalni sekretar @StrankaLMS, v imenu države zahteval imenovanje @isoltesEP za direktorja Uradnega lista!
Več: https://t.co/QlonYERkEU @vladaRS @sarecmarjan pic.twitter.com/R6uJVwyxcQ
Allegedly, Kralj instructed Prijović on 21 August to appoint former Court of Audit president Šoltes as the gazette's new director and to report directly to him, bypassing Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH), the state asset custodian.
Prijović then reported him to the Corruption Prevention Commission as well as to SSH.
Kralj has told the STA he had indeed called the chief supervisor, but only to tell her that Šoltes, who had applied for the top post at Uradni List as part of a call for applications, was a good candidate.
However, Šarec highlighted today that Kralj as the party's secretary general could not have been lobbying on the state's behalf since only the government could do that.
"I respect Šoltes, but I do not like him that much to sacrifice a secretary general for him," said Šarec.
"Šoltes was not our candidate. It is definitely important to recruit people who are competent," added the prime minister, highlighting that any kind of staffing should be transparent.
In this case there was an open call for applications and it is completely inappropriate to try to exert influence in such a manner, said Šarec.
"Kralj will no longer be the LMŠ secretary general because we are putting our house in order. When such a situation occurs, one needs to deliver right decisions," said Šarec.
He added that such phone calls were probably common, but since there were not a lot of reports, the right people had to be calling. This incident could serve as an opportunity for the media to investigate other cases as well, he added.
Kralj will remain the party's member and will serve as a stand-in secretary general until the appointment of a new one, since, according to Šarec, the LMŠ cannot continue without its legal representative.
The prime minister believes Kralj, if called upon, will cooperate with the Corruption Prevention Commission, which launched the proceedings today.
SSH, which is processing Prijović's report as a priority, highlighted today that it was up to the supervisory boards of state-owned companies to decide on management appointment procedures in such companies.
