The case, which concerns the sale of the area in Voderady, came even more to the fore after the reaction of the Slovak influencer Emy Lacova. Her word “slayáda” triggered a wave of reactions. How did this happen?
The owner Gustáv Laco, whose daughter and member of the company’s supervisory board is supposed to be the influencer Ema Lacová, should speak for the company owning the outlet before the sale, writes the daily. When her portal asked about this business, she commented with surprising words. “Well, that sounds crazy. It’s a shame that it turned out that way, huh” she stated.
What is it about in this case? Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and the Knowledge Economy sent almost 17 million euros to the institution National Innovation and Technology Center (NITC), but only has one-third voting rights. This was pointed out by opposition MPs from Progressive Slovakia and the parliamentary club Slovakia-For the People.
They also criticized that the office sent the money without any legal basis. Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and Knowledge Economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) talks about the opposition’s revenge for failed plans. Progressive Slovakia drew attention to the risk that the 17 million euros that the state sent to NITC will never be returned to taxpayers. “An even greater risk is that additional tens of millions of euros may flow into the same association,” declared PS vice-chairman Michal Truban.
Member of Parliament Veronika Remišová (Slovakia-For the people) recalled that the abandoned Voderady outlet, in which NITC is supposed to grow, was not sold to the owners even for five million euros. Truban added that NITC is an association that operates outside the basic rules of public control, and the state sent it millions of euros as if it were an ordinary private person. “Such a scheme is unacceptable and represents a deep black hole in public finances,” he stressed.
“Progressives are attacking me because I disrupted their business. They wanted to build an innovation center for 700 million euros in Bratislava and pitch a deal to their funders from Eset,” Kmec responded to the accusations on the social network. He added that they decided instead to build an innovation center in Voderady for everyone. “And most importantly, up to 70 times cheaper,” said Kmec. He added that they bought the area for 16.9 million euros, while an expert opinion valued the area at 19.3 million euros. At the same time, Kmec referred to the statement of the owner of the real estate agency, according to which, since 2021, a price for the area lower than 18 million euros has never been negotiated.
The circumstances of the establishment and subsidization of NITC, including the acquisition of premises, should be reviewed control ordered by the Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth Tomáš Drucker (Voice-SD), who is entrusted with the management of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and the Knowledge Economy. “At the same time, the minister ordered the halt of all relevant actions and processes to prevent any further steps until compliance with the law, internal regulations and principles of transparent management is clearly confirmed,” the office said on Wednesday.
The inspection is to examine the process of creating the NITC and all implemented actions, the public tender and the acquisition of real estate, but also the decision-making leading to the selection and conclusion of contractual relationships, expert opinions, financial and legal aspects of the acquisition or check the existence of possible conflicts of interests or risks.
The sentence of the influencer spread all over the Internet and a wave of criticism came. After a few days, she came back with a VIDEO statement, where she says that she was used for propaganda and was appalled by it and had no idea about anything.
“To use me as propaganda – it’s not a slayáda. To accuse me wrongly – it’s not a slayáda. The entire internet poured out their anger and frustration on me for actions I didn’t do. It’s easy to prey on a young naive girl, when what you all “fight” against is mostly men’s fault. All the creators and spreaders of this campaign – you are absolute human bottom without empathy, without a backbone,” she said in a comment on a video she uploaded to Instagram.
“Today I was just horrified by it. And now it seems funny to me. It’s funny how the whole republic knows how to lynch one young lady who doesn’t even have a clue. I’m still living my granny life and suddenly boom. Someone will use me for political propaganda. What happened to me is media rape. Realistically. Other parties at least offered influencers some money for propaganda. They just took advantage of me. They abused me for something I didn’t do. If you’re expecting this statement to be something like, I’m sorry, I don’t know what. Or that this will be here, that I will rap about some laws and things that I don’t understand. Well, no. This statement will be like my entire activity on Instagram,” she started.
According to her, the politicians knew that she did nothing and they can find out. “Do you think that if I received several million in my account, I would make codes for various companies here? That I would spend a few hundred euros on the Internet? I, people know me, that I would give myself away for everyone. I still give something to someone. In reality, I have never even stolen candy from a store in my life. As I go my own way, I don’t deal with any real estate, nor any sales, nothing. I don’t understand it at all. I’m just a dumb influencer,” she asserts forcefully, saying that she is convinced that others wanted to destroy her life as a mother.
She claims that she followed many Slovak politicians and agreed with them. “I want to tell you that all these politicians who are involved in this lynching are spineless. It’s unprofessional. It’s a lie. It’s disgusting. Shame on you. Those of you who have children, imagine someone doing this to your child. Do you think that if I were doing business for I don’t know how many millions, I would answer like a top and a slejad? Nope. I didn’t know who the lady was. I was like someone is bothering me again. Well, that’s a herring,” added.
This was followed by harsh messages to influencers and famous personalities, where she stated that she sees it all and they should not comment on her person. You can find her statement in the video at the beginning of the article.
