STA, 19 October 2021 - Andrej Vizjak, environment minister, has denied having urged businessman Bojan Petan to avoid taxes in relation to spa Terme Čatež in 2007. He said on Tuesday the recording aired on Monday by POP TV was "a collage". He labelled it manipulation, which he attributed to businessman Martin Odlazek's "garbage mafia".
"From where I stand, there is reasonable suspicion that the recordings are not authentic. It's my assessment it's a kind of collage with sound-manipulation to discredit me. These are grave accusations which I regret," Vizjak, who served as economy minister in 2004-2008, said on the sidelines of the government's visit to the coast.
The commercial TV station broadcast a 14-year-old recording in which Vizjak is trying to persuade Petan to agree to his terms in the Terme Čatež privatisation story, also by suggesting he should avoid paying taxes and offering him the state and the supervisory board's cooperation.
Vizjak said he suspected the recording was the result of a collaboration of media baron Odlazek and "his business empire, which is also in waste management business".
He said "a collage of several statements" was aired when his ministry sent a bill on environmental protection, which also enjoys the support of NGOs, to the government.
"I cannot explain this to myself other than being an attempt to liquidate me from this post in relation to waste management. The 'garbage mafia' has so far liquidated all ministers when they put forward something that didn't suit them," said Vizjak, adding the bill "means the end to big profits of this garbage mafia".
He also denied ever discussing or negotiating on any interest, cooperation, business or anything else with Petan. "These are really severe accusations. There have also been no results of the acts I'm accused of," he said, adding that he wanted "the truth to come out".
Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said on Twitter he had been notified of the old wiretapped recording a while ago, while at the same time being warned it would be broadcast "at an appropriate time to undermine him and the government".
Hojs said the operation had been managed by Odlazek. "If we read their portals, radio stations and newspapers, everything is clear," he said on Twitter. During the government visit, he added the recording was either a wiretap or a manipulated recording as suggested by Vizjak.
Asked whether he will report it, Hojs said he will after "something happens" with his report against the health minister from 2012. "I've been minister for a year and a half and I have no information what they did with that report."
The opposition Social Democrats (SD) and Left responded to Hojs's tweet, saying it proved Hojs had known about the recording but had not reported it to protect his SDS. Based on the tweet, the opposition will thus supplement the ouster motion against Hojs that it announced last week and is to file it tomorrow.
The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) meanwhile has no powers to investigate the conversation between Vizjak and Petan because it took so many years ago. However, it believes the government, which has adopted a code of ethics for public office holders, should discuss it.
"If the recordings are authentic, then such action by a public office holder is absolutely unacceptable," KPK said, regretting that persons who possess such recordings or data suggesting breach of law do not hand them to law enforcement or the public immediately or within a period when relevant institutions could still deal with them.
The leaders of the Democrats' (SDS) junior coalition partners meanwhile expect Vizjak to provide "explanations" before deciding how to proceed.
SMC leader Zdravko Počivalšek, economy minister, said that judging by his own experience, "not everything that is broadcast on TV is necessarily true". "I'm used to media murders of one kind or another, so let's wait," he said on the sidelines of the government visit.
Similarly, NSi leader Matej Tonin, defence minister, said the NSi was awaiting "clear and detailed" explanations on the basis of which it will take concrete decisions. "As a citizen I'm obliged to pay taxes, which I do. I'll tell my and the NSi's opinion once we've got the minister's explanations," he said.
