Opposition members of the National Council of the SR Veronika Remišová and Július Jakab from the club Slovakia – For the People criticized the prepared IT project of the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization (MIRRI) of the Slovak Republic against tax fraud for 105 million euros. According to them, it is a non-transparent and overpriced project without proper professional justification, which is supposed to hide the real problem – disruption of the fight against economic crime after the intervention of the government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in the criminal system. Minister of Investments Samuel Migaľ (independent) rejected the criticism as unfounded.
“Hungary, with ten million inhabitants, introduced a similar system for 28 million euros. Slovakia is half a country, and Minister Migaľ wants a system for 105 million euros. This is not efficiency, but a brutally overpriced deal.” said Remišová. She also criticized the secrecy of the €170,000 feasibility study commissioned by the ministry, as well as the fact that the project did not undergo a proper assessment by the Value for Money Unit.
Deputy Jakab called the planned project “another theft”. “This government first manufactures a problem and then wants hundreds of millions from the people to solve it. They reduced the penalty rates for tax fraud, untied the hands of fraudsters and now they want 105 million euros for an IT tender to extinguish their own failures.” pointed out Jakab.
Migaľ responded that the entire project is still only at the stage of concept and proposal as one of the measures and it is not a tender or a competition for private companies. “This is a study of the implementation of Hungary’s truck control system, which in practice has reduced tax evasion from 17 to two percent. There is no procurement plan or anything like that, this is an expert estimate of costs within the study.” said the minister.
Regarding the feasibility study, according to the minister, it was not appropriate to publish all the details in the preparation of the material. “There is currently no reason to withhold the entire text, and we are happy to publish it with sensitive information blacked out,” he pointed out that the study was prepared by Ernst & Young.
The minister sees this project as an important pro-growth measure that can bring back more than 200 million euros to the state already during the first year of operation. “So the theoretical costs would be recouped in half a year. That’s why I’m sorry that the opposition is spreading unsubstantiated claims before checking all the facts.” added Migaľ.
