Economy Minister Pavol Pavlis resigns

Economy Minister Pavol Pavlis is resigning from his post, Pavlis' spokesperson Miriam Žiaková said on Tuesday. Pavlis made the decision after speaking with Prime Minister Robert Fico earlier in the day. "The Economy Minister has assumed political responsibility for information concerning him that was published by media. The smearing of his name represents potential damage to the party that nominated him as well as to his personal reputation and that of his family", said Žiaková. According to the SME daily, David Sipos, the owner of a cleaning company, received commissions worth hundreds of thousands of euro from organisations operated by the Economy Minister. Sipos is also a brother-in-law of Pavol Pavlis. SME reported that Sitis was founded in August 2012, four months before Pavlis' arrival at the Economy Ministry as state secretary. Two months later, the company signed its first contract with MH Invest worth more than €20,000 and subsequently also received deals at other ministries. Sipos became the sole stockholder of Sitis in September 2013. In 2014, the company also concluded a cleaning contract with the Tehelná Poliklinika health centre, under the remit of the National Property Fund (FNM), worth €103,000.