BRATISLAVA, August 19, (WEBNOVINY) — The Tax Directorate of the Slovak Republic has decided to conclude a long-term rent contract for a building for tax authorities in the city of Kosice with the firm Nitra Invest, s.r.o., reported the Tax Directorate’s spokeswoman Gabriela Dianova. She further announced that head of the tax authority Igor Krnac evaluated all aspects connected with the needs of the tax administration. „He considered not only the objective of the Unitas project, within which all customs and tax authorities in the city are to be replaced by a single regional Financial Office, but also interests of employees of the tax administration in the city of Kosice, who for years have been working in emergency conditions,” Dianova summarized.
Other important factors in the decision-making on the future lease included limited real estate market, time, as well as the public budget. The director general also took into consideration stances of the Tax Directorate’s expert departments, the tender evaluation commission, as well as recommendations of the Tax Directorate’s management. „I decided to proceed to signing the contract based on the process in which the law was fully respected, while the selection was not contested by any participant of the tender, and was evaluated as the most transparent procedure in looking for a building for tax authorities in Kosice,” Krnac emphasized.
According to the Fair-Play Alliance, the Tax Directorate should not sign the contract and cancel the running tender. Head of the alliance Zuzana Wienk said earlier this month that only one company of Ondrej Scurka, who heads the SDKU-DS district organization in Nitra, could meet the criteria of the announced tender. “The tender was not fair and did not set equal terms for all potential applicants. It required applicants to de facto carry out construction arrangements requiring substantial investment while the tender was still underway, although they could not know whether they would win the tender. Moreover, the premises were to be available to the tax office as of August 1, which is not a viable term,” said Wienk.
Transparency International Slovensko also recommended canceling the current round of tender to select a building for rent and to announce a new tender. Among the reasons behind this are the fact that the criteria of assessment and participation were unnecessarily strict; moreover, they were changed in the course of the two rounds and they were not sufficiently clear. Similarly, the analysis of alternatives to the rental of one large building lacks calculation of long-term costs and benefits, as well as impact on public finances. Sadly, even a tender with such flaws remains the most transparent selection of new spaces for the Tax Directorate in Kosice conducted so far, the NGO concluded.
Finance Minister Ivan Miklos announced earlier he wanted to wait for the conclusions to the results of the analyses as well. “I will definitely ask the director general of the Tax Directorate to present his statement and opinion and proposals of the NGOs,” he said. Prime Minister Iveta Radicova is of the same opinion. According to her spokesman Rado Bato, she read the conclusions of the Fair-Play Alliance’s report and was awaiting the decision of the director general of the tax directorate.
SITA