Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_08_št.12 - Index

QuoTesofThefortnight
sinfo 12 2
Peter Jambrek /The President of the Assembly/: The Assembly
for the Republic Supports Current Govt
Ljubljana, 3 September: We condemn the attempts to discredit the (Slovenian)
government abroad. The first such attempt was the journalists'
petition against state pressure on media, while the second was the
Finish documentary accusing Janša of corruption in the Patria deal.
Both are ruthless attacks on the entire Slovenia, which weakened the
country's international standing and damaged its reputation. It was
the current government that confronted lobbies which have had monopoly
on various segments of society for decades: the road lobby,
big corporations and media. In all of these cases, the government
sided with the people, and not the magnates.
Barbara Brezigar /State Prosecutor General/: No evidence on
corruption from Finland
Ljubljana, September 4th: We have not received any evidence from the
Finnish investigators which would confirm the suspicion that anybody
has committed a criminal offence in connection with the
acquisition of 8x8 armoured infantry vehicles. According to the
information I have, there are no longer any persons in custody.
Those who were in custody have not been charged. The Slovene
prosecutors cooperate with the Finnish criminal investigators all
the time and we have great difficulties acquiring information.
According to what has been happening since the TV story presented
Slovenia as a corrupt and backward country, one must say
that the Slovene police and prosecutors have been working on
this case for as long as the Finnish. We have conducted a great
number of interviews. We have done all that was possible to do.
We have asked the Finnish investigators many times to forward
us specific data for specific suspicions. They have said themselves
that they do not have these suspicions. Don’t expect us to lock
people up just because someone says they are corrupt. We prosecutors
need proof for that.
Karl Erjavec /Minister of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia/:
People have been accusing me for three years already, but
still no official body has discovered anything
I have demanded that Patria is to tell me in writing that the
investigation in Finland is not connected with Slovenia. If I do
not receive a written answer, I will demand that they come to
Slovenia and explain the Patria documents cited in the YLE story
mentioning the letter J. If none of the above happens, we will
immediately freeze the deal.
Andraž Vehovar /The head of the Slovenian Olympic team/:
Slovenia Successful at Olympics
Beijing, 25 August - Slovenia's appearance at the Beijing Games was
very good. The overall harvest of five medals and only a couple
of slips make it an exceptional success for Slovenia.
Maybe there is an expected medal or two missing, for example
from rowers Iztok »op and Luka ©pik, but we managed to win
some medals we had not predicted, such as bronze by judoka
Lucija Polavder. An important thing is that we have made an
appearance with such a strong team and that we managed to
make up for few mistakes. This team has the right self-esteem.