UVO: Appointment of Ondrej Kuruc in Accordance with Law

Bratislava, November 21 (TASR) - Public Procurement Authority Vice-chair for Strategic Agenda Ondrej Kuruc was appointed to his post by the government in accordance with the law, UVO press department stated on Thursday. Speaking in response to the criticism by Progressive Slovakia, which had pointed out that Kuruc might be in a conflict of interest, UVO underlined that Kuruc is no longer employed by the Transport Ministry. "In the past few days, the UVO Vice-chair already heard the complaints lodged against the National Highway Company (NDS) over a public tender and ruled in favour of the company that submitted the complaint," said UVO. "In every process belonging to my agenda, I'm assessing the potential conflict of interest and my decisions are guided strictly by the law," claimed Kuruc. Earlier in the day, PS warned of a potential conflict of interest in the case of Ondrej Kuruc's appointment to the post of UVO Vice-chair, as Kuruc was the Transport Ministry's public procurement department head and, by his own admission, a personal friend of Transport Minister Jozef Raz Jr. (a Smer-SD nominee). PS warned that as the UVO vice-chair, Kuruc will be responsible for making decisions on complaints regarding tenders for strategic investments worth billions and will wield the power to impose fines. mf/mcs