Matovic: State Loses €1 Million in Land Substitution

Bratislava, May 3 (TASR) – The Interior Ministry headed by Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) has inked a disadvantageous contract on land substitution, allegedly depriving the state of around €1 million, stated Opposition OLaNO-NOVA MPs Igor Matovic and Veronika Remisova at a press conference on Wednesday.

Referring partly to the information provided by Plus 7 Dni weekly earlier in the day, the two MPs stated that in the contract signed in December 2016 the ministry supposedly exchanged two plots of land situated in lucrative parts of Bratislava for four flats in an outer part of the capital.

“In the contract on land substitution we can read that the land was sold not even for €600,000, even though its real value was €1,600,000. The difference makes one million euros. Only Robert Kalinak is capable of this,” said Matovic.

In response to the issue the Interior Ministry stated that Plus 7 Dni weekly published grossly misleading information concerning the land exchange. “The Interior Ministry has substituted the land that couldn’t have been used for its activities, as the structures built on the land were either in poor condition or were not owned by the ministry,” stated the Interior Ministry, adding that expert opinions on the value of the land were carried out by professionals who had all the information on the real estate needed at their disposal in order to set the market price correctly.

The ministry went on to say that the expert opinion was chosen in a public competition that took place on the electronic marketplace, while the winning company – Ivanska cesta, Ltd. – had to pay the Interior Ministry the difference of €70,980.