Economy Minister Pavol Pavlis has demanded an audit of the electricity utility Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) and turned to Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paška with a letter on 17 September to that effect, requesting the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) to carry out an audit on how financial resources have been managed in the company.
Minister Pavlis filed the proposal with respect to the additional increase of investment costs and budget needed for the completion of the third and fourth blocks of Mochovce nuclear power plant requested by SE, and the postponing of dates of completion. “The state has an interest in carrying out an inspection concerning public financial resources, which couldn't have been carried out earlier as the National Property Fund (FNM) owned only 33.99 percent of stock,” said Economy Ministry spokesperson Miriam Žiaková on Thursday. She added that ownership over 34 percent of stock was a required minimum for launching such an audit. “After the transfer of SE stocks from FNM to the Economy Ministry, it is now possible to carry out the inspection regardless of the amount of stock, as the owner now is the state,” she added. The ministry rejected that the inspection request is related in any way to the planned sale of SE by Italian energy giant Enel.
