STA, 8 March 2019 - The Ljubljana Local Court has slapped the opposition Democrats (SDS) with a fine of EUR 20,000 for violating the political parties act in the hiring of two loans, the commercial broadcaster POP TV reported on Friday. SDS head Janez Janša was slapped with a EUR 2,000 fine. The party has reportedly already announced an appeal.

The SDS was indicted by the Court of Audit in March 2018 over two contentious loans it took out in 2017.

The party came under fire in January 2018 for closing a deal on a EUR 450,000 loan from a Bosnian national at the end of 2017, and borrowing EUR 60,000 from the publisher Nova Obzorja in August 2017.

This runs contrary to the provision that parties can only borrow from banks, savings banks and a limited amount of money from individuals.

Under the loan agreement with Bosnian Diana Đuđić, the 32-year-old was obligated to pay out the loan in three instalments of EUR 150,000.

The law puts the ceiling for party loans from individuals at ten times the value of the average gross monthly pay or around EUR 15,800 per year.

Less than two weeks after the scandal broke out, media reported of the loan the SDS took from Nova Obzorja, in which the party holds a 44.2% stake. The stake was also put up as collateral in the loan secured with Đuđić but was later put up for sale.

Nova Obzorja issues the weekly Demokracija and tabloid Škandal24.

The SDS returned the first instalment it received from Đuđić with interest in January 2018 but this did not stop the procedure against the party.

All our stories on politics in Slovenia can be found here

https://www.total-slovenia-news.com/news/politics

STA, 8 March 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told the weekly Mladina that UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had raised the issue of a UK company's gas extraction project in the north-east of Slovenia during their talks in Ljubljana at the end of February. Šarec said he found the manner of inquiry unusual.

The fracking attempts in the Petišovci area were stopped by former Environment Minister Jure Leben after UK company Ascent Resources had been pressuring the country to issue an environmental permit and even threatening with a lawsuit before an EU court.

Several environmental NGOs and parties had also accused UK Ambassador Sophie Honey of lobbying and putting pressure on Slovenian authorities to secure the permit for fracking.

Šarec said in an interview with Mladina that the case had come up in the talks with Hunt in Ljubljana on 21 February.

Asked whether Hunt had lobbied during the talks, Šarec replied in the affirmative. "Yes, his questions regarding this case were, I must say, unusual.

"I believe that such talks do not become a foreign secretary, because it makes the whole thing resemble horse-trading."

Šarec said he had told Hunt that "in Slovenia we operate in line with the law."

"I'd like to point out that the permit for fracking is not a matter of a favourable political stance toward this or other party but a matter of legislation.

"I am also personally convinced that these procedures for extracting oil or gas undoubtedly entail certain environmental risks."

Šarec also noted that lobbying was usually reported to the Commission for Corruption Prevention but it this case this was not necessary, because he had publicly spoken about it now.

All our stories about fracking in Slovenia can be found here, while all our stories about Jeremy Hunt are here

STA, 7 March 2019 - The Ljubljana District Court acquitted Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković of bribery charges in the Gratel case on Thursday. The prosecution sought a three-year prison sentence and a EUR 50,000 fine for Janković. It also wanted the Ljubljana municipality to return the donation it received from the company Gratel.

The ruling is not final yet and prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar announced an appeal.

The case concerns EUR 500,000 which the mayor demanded from construction company Gratel in March 2007 to allow it to dig roads to install optic cables.

Gratel then transferred two EUR 250,000 instalments to the municipality as a donation for the renovation of Ljubljana Castle.

This enabled it to resume its work under a new development permit after Janković had initially banned Gratel from digging on public premises.

Janković argued that the payment had been made in compensation for the damage incurred by the city because Gratel had dug up wider conduits and installed more cables than agreed.

He maintained throughout the trial there was nothing wrong with a company making a donation to a public institution, saying it caused no harm to anyone and nobody except the prosecutor was claiming anything back.

Gratel owner Jurij Krč backed up his story, saying the donation to Ljubljana Castle was not a bribe but a payment in line with the contract, while former Gratel CEO Drago Štrafela said he did not understand why the money should be paid to the municipality, arguing the city suffered no damage.

In presenting closing arguments today, prosecutor Žgajnar said Janković had used his power to pressure Gratel into the donation. "When they did that, he allowed them to continue the work," she said.

"Donations are not forbidden if they are voluntary," she stressed, adding that three witnesses had confirmed that the defendant had demanded money. She believes that the one witness who did not confirm this was not telling the truth.

But Judge Vladislava Lunder said today that the evidence presented had not corroborated the claim that Janković had demanded a bribe and that none of the witnesses had confirmed this.

"None of the witnesses confirmed the claim that Janković made obtaining the permit conditional on the payment of the damages," the judge said.

The problems of the project as part of which Gratel was building an optical network for operator T-2 had started in 2006, which is before Janković became mayor. According to Lunder, not only testimonies of witnesses but also documents presented as evidence showed this.

The judge was not convinced by the prosecutor's claim that Janković had revoked the permit to Gratel only to allow it to continue work once it paid a bribe.

Žgajnar moreover said that Štrafela had softened his statements compared to those he had given to police during the investigation. She believes it was him who had made the deal with Janković.

Janković's lawyer, Janez Koščak, said that no proceeding had been filed against the person who allegedly paid the bribe so technically there was no bribe to be accepted by Janković or the municipality.

He said Janković was on trial for acting with due care and diligence by demanding compensation after a contract partner had violated the contract. "If he hadn't done that he could be indicted for negligence."

Janković said today the had been the target of a political campaign by four persons, including Žgajnar, for the last four years. He believes this attack had been triggered by a "pamphlet of the parliamentary enquiry which was led by Alenka Jeraj of the SDS."

Jeraj of the opposition Democrats led between 2009 and 2011 a parliamentary inquiry into major public construction projects and other major investments funded from the Ljubljana or state budgets.

The final report of the inquiry commission, which had also investigated construction deals of companies owned by Janković's family members, suggested that Janković abused his power to allow his sons to profit from a re-zoning plan that opened agricultural land for construction.

All our stories on Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković can be found here

STA, 6 March 2019 - Transparency International Slovenija (TI) has reported the director of the Agency for Commodity Reserves Anton Zakrajšek to the state prosecution over suspected abuse of office in the procurement of what is currently a 179-km fence on the border with Croatia.

Following allegations that the procurement of the fencing favoured a specific contractor, TI obtained part of the documentation after almost three years of efforts, receiving a nod from the Information Commissioner and engaging in a tug-of-war with the agency in courts.

Screenshot from YouTube

TI believes Zakrajšek abused his powers when signing a razor wire contract with Minis in 2015 which included the provision of an advance payment of EUR 860,832 or 70% of the contract's total value.

Minis has been the main supplier of "technical obstacles" that Slovenia started erecting on the Croatian border during the migration crisis. It has received more than EUR 9.3m from the agency, while the remaining suppliers have been paid a total of EUR 6m, the newspaper Dnevnik reported today.

TI says the agency would have required special consent from the finance minister for the advance payment, which it does not appear to have received, while Zakrajšek is arguing the payment had never been executed.

The official, who is adamant that Minis was always picked as the cheapest bidder, argues the advance payment had been conditional on the supplier securing a bank guarantee in the full amount of the payment, which it failed to do.

What is more, the Finance Ministry said this provision only applied to direct budget users, while the agency is not defined as a budget user at all.

TI responded by saying "the alleged advance payment is only one of the suspicions elements, while confirming or rejecting the suspicion is in the domain of the relevant authorities". The NGO told the STA it saw no reason to withdraw its report.

TI only asked for a portion of the documents, as much of the fence procurement documentation remained classified as internal. The STA has not yet received an answer from the government about whether it planned to declassify them.

The agency said in a press release in the afternoon that the documents were classified because their contents could put in jeopardy the government's objectives to regulate migration flow.

Moreover, Zakrajšek said in the press release that the agency had asked Minis for a bid because the company had already been cooperating with the Interior Ministry at that point and the department had no complaints. The Interior Ministry also provided the specifications for the fence, the press release said.

The fencing contracts, signed under special provisions governing procurement in cases labelled classified, have been raising eyebrows for some time.

Alenka Bratušek, the head of the SAB party who was an MP at the time, caused waves after a 2017 session of the parliamentary Commission for Public Finance Oversight, when she claimed the documents studied had been manipulated with and that the chosen bidder had not been the cheapest.

SAB secretary general Jernej Pavlič said today that Bratušek had forwarded her findings at the time to the prosecution.

Zakrajšek insists the chosen bidder had been the cheapest and fastest and claims Bratušek is misleading with her accusation, which he says is based on a mistake that occurred in one of the minutes.

Media have also been wondering about the choice of Minis, with POP TV reporting on Tuesday that the company and a local office of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), the senior coalition party between 2014 and 2018, shared the same address for a while.

SMC leader Miro Cerar responded to the reports by saying the intensive migration pressure in 2015 required the decision to protect people and property.

"This was the task I put to the ministers," he said, expressing his belief the decisions followed professional criteria and legal obligations. "I believe Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek acted in due fashion."

All our stories on corruption and Slovenia are here

STA, 5 February 2019 - Ljubljana police have arrested a senior criminal investigator with access to sensitive police information who appears to have been involved in drug dealing and was caught in wiretaps.

The arrest was announced by the Ljubljana Police Directorate on Tuesday and the case transferred to the special task force of prosecutors dealing with suspected crime in police ranks.

Slovenian media report that the suspect was on the staff of the police's intelligence department and had been busted dealing drugs.

Police caught whiff of his off-duty activity in October, when they were wiretapping suspected drug dealers, according to Večer.

Večer also reports that his clearance gave him access to information that may have been of interest to criminals.

The police did not reveal the man's identity beyond saying that he was a senior detective who was "involved with sources and informants".

But Večer says the suspect was a senior detective who had received a special commendation from the police commissioner for successfully investigating the massive robbery of an SKB bank vault that took place in 2005.

As a result of the sting, two heads of departments dealing with the acquisition and analysis of intelligence have been transferred.

Tomaž Pečjak, the police commissioner's chief of staff, told the press the department heads were not suspected of any wrongdoing, they were transferred as a matter of precaution.

Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar also decreed that the police intelligence and analytics department be reorganised to improve efficiency.

Deal signed on cooperation in prosecution of police officers

STA, 5 February 2019 - Representatives of the prosecution and police have signed an agreement on the prosecution of police officers, which is expected to provide them with better conditions for cooperation and exchange of information in relevant cases.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday by State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa and Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar, the Office of the State Prosecutor General announced in a press release.

It determines the rules for cooperation and exchange of information between the police and the department for the investigation and prosecution of officers with special authorisations of the Specialised State Prosecution.

Šketa and Tatjana Bobnar said that the agreement enabled better cooperation and exchange of information in cases when there is reasonable suspicion that an officer employed in the police has committed a criminal act prosecuted ex officio.

Šketa was quoted as saying that the "agreement means quicker and more efficient prosecution of criminal acts, with police officers informing the special department about all criminal acts."

Police officers will also "provide prosecutors with expert and technical assistance in cases requiring specific know-how and technical equipment which the special department does not possess".

Announcing the signing of the agreement, the newspaper Dnevnik said today that the exchange of information between the police and prosecution had not been automatic so far.

The "grey area" has been the cases which were managed "past the police", the paper added.

If an alleged injured party reported a police officer directly to the prosecution, the police force was not notified about the report, and had no access to the information about the further steps taken by the prosecution.

There were cases when the prosecution launched criminal proceedings without the police even knowing that a police officer has been accused and being able to carry out internal and disciplinary proceedings, Dnevnik said.

STA, 31 January 2019 - The Ljubljana District Court heard Gratel owner Jurij Krč back Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovič on Thursday in a case in which the mayor stands accused of taking a bribe to the benefit of the city. Much like Janković last week, Krč said the donation to Ljubljana Castle was no bribe but a payment in line with the contract.

The indictment says that soon after becoming mayor in late 2006, Jankovič demanded that Gratel pay a donation of half a million euro to the municipality to be allowed to continue digging roads to install optic cables for telecommunications company T2.

The prosecution argues Jankovič had unjustifiably revoked the permit for temporary road closures Gratel had received from his predecessor just before the 2006 local elections and then made a new contract with the company.

But he added a damages clause, thereby assuming powers of the city's traffic department, which is in charge of issuing permits for road closures, according to the prosecution.

Janković told the court last week he had annulled the permit signed by his predecessor Danica Simčič because it was illegal, as it should have been issued by the city's traffic department. He said legal expert Rajko Pirnat confirmed this.

"We had an agreement on how to come to the site, whom to inform, who must be present. The deal also had a provision on damages for making a spatial intervention that exceeds the one outlined in the permit for temporary road closures," Krč said today.

"We had an agreement with the mayor to pay the damages and we did," he added.

According to Krč, Janković did not set the donation as a condition for the continuation of works. As Gratel owner Krč said he did not feel there was something wrong with the payment because it was in line with the contract. "We would have to pay one way or another," he said.

Janković said the deal was that the company either pays damages or makes a donation. The money was allocated to the same purpose any way, he said.

Former T2 adviser Miran Kramberger also took the stand today, saying that T2 was in the middle of negotiations for a loan with a consortium of banks at the time and that any interruptions in the construction works would have affected the process.

All our stories on Mayor Janković can be found here

STA, 29 January 2019 - Scoring 60 points, Slovenia ranked 36th among 180 countries in Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) rankings for 2018, a drop of one point and two spots from 2017, respectively. The country has thus made no major progress since 2012, TI Slovenia said in a release on Tuesday.

Based on independent sources, the CPI ranks the countries according to how corrupt their public sectors are perceived to be.

Slovenia falls one place in talent competitiveness index

STASTA, 29 January 2019 - Slovenia has slid one spot in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) compiled by the Insead Business School, Adecco temping agency and Tata Communication. The country ranks 29th out of 125 countries included in the survey, a spot down from 2018 and four spots down from the first GTCI index in 2013.

Slovenia scored 54.44 points, more than 27 points less than Switzerland, which tops the ranking. Yemen, placing last, got a score of 11.97 points.

While 29th overall, Slovenia ranks 19th in Europe. Interestingly, it is also one spot ahead of South Korea.

It ranks 38th in terms of enabling talent, 47th in terms of attracting talent from abroad, 34th in growing its own talent and 27th in terms of retaining talent.

The index also compares cities, with Ljubljana ranking 50th, after finishing 49th last year. This is the second time Ljubljana was included in the ranking of cities.

Adecco Slovenija said in a press release on Tuesday that there was a lot of room for improvement in terms of Ljubljana's connectivity to airports and simplification of hiring.

STA, 22 January 2019 - Having pleaded not guilty in the Gratel case last November, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovič presented his view of events as the trial opened at the Ljubljana District Court on Tuesday. He labelled the indictment, which accuses him of taking a bribe from the company Gratel to the benefit of the city, a plot against him.

The indictment says that soon after becoming mayor in late 2006, Jankovič demanded in early 2007 that construction company Gratel pay a donation of half a million euro to the municipality to be allowed to continue digging roads to install optic cables for telecommunications company T2.

Prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar told the court Jankovič had unjustifiably revoked the permit for temporary road closures Gratel had received from his predecessor just before the 2006 local elections.

He had then concluded a new contract with the company, but added a damages clause, thereby assuming powers of the city's traffic department, which is in charge of issuing permits for road closures.

Presenting his side of the story, Jankovič denied all charges as unfounded, saying Žgajnar was prosecuting him because she did not like him.

"The documents which the police obtained as part of the investigation don't substantiate the claims in the indictment. This was not a donation, it was an agreement on damages," he said.

He said he had annulled the permit signed by his predecessor Danica Simčič because it was illegal, as it should have been issued by the city's traffic department.

The mayor said the municipality had commissioned a legal opinion from legal expert Rajko Pirnat which confirmed the permit should not have been signed by Simčič.

He explained that soon after becoming mayor he had received many complaints from locals and public companies about how Gratel was installing optic cables in Šiška borough.

Janković said the damages Gratel had paid were lower than what it had for instance paid the Kranj municipality for the same job of installing optic cables.

He stressed the amount had been set in talks with Gratel, which was in no way the weaker party, having strong lobbyists on its side.

What is more, the company decided on its own to pay the damages to the company running Ljubljana Castle, he stressed and called on Žgajnar to withdraw the indictment.

The next hearing is scheduled for 31 January, when Gratel owner Jurij Krč and former T2 boss Miran Kramberger take the stand.

All our stories on Mayor Janković can be found here

STA, 29 November 2018 - Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković pleaded not guilty as he appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing on Thursday in the Gratel case, in which he is charged with taking a bribe from a company to the benefit of the city.

"I think I'd be guilty if I hadn't done what I'm charged with," he told judge Vladislava Lunder at the Ljubljana District Court.

The case concerns EUR 500,000 which the mayor demanded from construction company Gratel in March 2007 to allow it to dig roads to install optic cables.

Gratel then transferred two EUR 250,000 instalments to the municipality as a donation for the renovation of Ljubljana Castle.

This enabled it to resume its work under a new development permit after Janković had initially banned Gratel from digging on public premises.

The payment was compensation for the damage incurred by the city because Gratel had dug up wider conduits and installed more cables than agreed.

Janković had already denied the allegation of bribery when the police raided the offices of the municipality and several other locations in February 2014.

His defence counsel Janez Koščak demanded today that evidence obtained in the 2014 house searches be excluded, arguing it had been obtained by violating human rights.

The lawyer explained the relevant court order had not specified the suspected crimes, which made the house searches unlawful.

Upon leaving the courtroom, Janković said he did not understand what prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar wanted to achieve with the indictment.

"A private company has paid compensation because it assessed it had installed too many cables," Janković repeated his view of the case.

He reiterated there was nothing wrong with a company making a donation to a public institution, saying it caused no damage to anyone and nobody except the prosecutor was claiming anything back.

Janković is convinced he is innocent: "I believe I'll prove my justice. They cannot sentence an innocent person."

He told the judge he had came to the courtroom "out of respect for the court", having had a business trip scheduled for today, which means he could have avoided it.

The main hearing in the Gratel case will start on 3 January.

Janković has another trial coming up soon, where he faces allegations of fraud concerning EU funds for the Stožice sports complex project.

While the trial starts next week, the pre-trial hearing for him is scheduled for 12 December.

Jankovič, who has led Ljubljana since late 2006, is also subject to criminal proceedings in several other cases.

STA, 27 November 2018 - Successful Slovenian businessmen frequently get the feeling that politicians and municipal representatives expect gifts or high-value rewards in exchange for conducting business, according to a survey by Deloitte Slovenija.

All in all, 72% of the respondents assessed the business environment as moderately corrupt, with only a tenth saying corruption is low, the head of Deloitte forensics for the Adriatic region Yuri Sidorovich told the press on Tuesday.

In recent years there have been no substantial efforts to tackle graft. "The question is not how much corruption there is in a country, it is what the state is doing about it," he said.

Problems seen with public projects, judiciary and law enforcement

He summed up the results by saying that Slovenians are disproportionately honest, but they are also disproportionately tolerant to those who steal.

Deloitte set out to poll successful businessmen, including the wealthiest Slovenians and members of management and supervisory boards.

It received only 53 completed surveys. "Many responded, but they did not want to participate because of questions regarding anonymity," said Deloitte manager Aleš Berham.

More than one in three said that public projects are overpriced because of corruption, and almost half said they did not trust Slovenian judiciary and law enforcement when it comes to white collar crime.

Sidorovich said that not a single respondent fully trusted law enforcement. "Is it normal that people with access to information, who know what is going on in the financial world do not trust law enforcement?," he wondered.