Subsidies for Agriculture Minister's family business raise suspicions

A company belonging to the family of interim Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan received a contribution of €1.4 million in April, opposition Smer-SD leader Robert Fico claimed on Wednesday. According to Fico, the company was the only one to succeed in a competition of eight. Moreover, Vlcan is allegedly a beneficiary in the said company. Responding to the allegations, interim Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan rejected the opposition party's criticism, considering the acquisition of a non-refundable financial contribution to be the result of the professional work of people from a company called Reko Recycling. The interim Prime Minister Eduard Heger is ready to "take action" if the investigation into the assignment of subsidies uncovers any breach of the law. The Environment Ministry pointed out that the firm had filed its application along with other bidders a year ago and the application was assessed by random evaluators. The ministry also concluded that the assessment was conducted in compliance with the EU rules for the provision of financial subsidies.

Source: TASR