Slovakia's English language newspaper

The Slovak Spectator online; December 1, 2004

Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports

THE RULING Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) of Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, does not have to pay a debt of Sk22 million (€551,000) because it was taken over by an unknown party in 2003.

The SKDÚ is refusing to reveal the name of the agent. Questions arise about who exactly took on the debt burden and what the motive was, the daily SME wrote.

The SDKÚ insists that in its accounting the party has met all legal requirements.

In its evaluation of the financial state of parliamentary political parties for 2003, financial watchdog the Fair Play Alliance (AFP) even suggested that if the SDKÚ were a business entity, it would go bankrupt. A similar assessment was made about another ruling party, the New Citizen's Alliance (ANO).

According to the TASR news agency, both parties posted deficits exceeding Sk50 million (€1.3 million) for the period of the past three years.

In 2003, however, the SDKÚ posted a slight profit, only because of the unknown party who took over the debt. The SDKÚ's debts still amount to some Sk66 million (€1.65 billion).

"Based on several previous experiences, the SDKÚ considers the AFP to be an untrustworthy institution and we do not consider their conclusions to be relevant," SDKÚ spokesman Martin Maťko told SME.