in 2022, OĽaNO nominee Ján Marosz was appointed general director of the Slovak Land Fund. He got this position without a selection process. During the year, he made important and mainly good changes in this institution. He managed to uncover many wonderful mounds of soil on which fruit orchards were supposed to grow. It turned out that they basically became building plots. Instead of apple and pear trees, houses started to grow there like mushrooms after the rain.
After he took office, criminal reports began to pile up on the police, mainly for the strange allocation of these “orchards”. At this time, the police are investigating the strange allocation of 17 such plots. It is therefore not surprising that certain persons were not and are not satisfied with the performance of the new CEO. The SPF tightened the allocation of land and reorganization began in this inconspicuous but important institution.
It was supposed to lead to transparency and greater efficiency of the office, which had already faced many scandals in the past. The fact that the Slovak Land Fund is not an insignificant office also proves that it manages 750,000 hectares of land of varying quality and price.
Minister Samuel Vlčan unexpectedly, before the end of this government, decided to comply with pre-election promises that only people who pass the selection process will get the positions. He declared that he wants to be a transparent minister and will finally allow an expert to be chosen for this position. It is interesting that for three years he did not mind having a general director in place, albeit a non-expert, but a decent and forceful person who was able and willing to reveal problems with the land. And maybe it bothered him, he just couldn’t do anything about it.
OK, let’s believe that the minister really wanted to keep his promises. 6 applicants applied for the selection process. The public had the opportunity to watch it online and the author of this article even attended it personally as an observer. The commission consisted of members of the ministry, various agricultural initiatives and the professional public. She listened to the projects of all the candidates. It was interesting and informative to listen to their statements. Some could not convincingly answer why they are signed under the decisions on the allocation of “fruit orchards”. One of the applicants made it possible seven times with his signature. Today, the police are investigating, and he was unable to convincingly explain why he did it at the commission’s hearing. Today this person wants to be the CEO of SPF. So the question is how he wants to reveal the frauds, when he himself probably actively participated in them. Another of the applicants claimed at the hearing that although he sold his company to the financial group Slávia Capital, he never met the representatives of this toxic company.
“In other words, the minister is bothered by Marosz’s determination to file criminal charges against the corrupt behavior of his predecessors. “
A number of strange statements and lies were heard from the mouths of some applicants during the selection process. Simply put, the committee didn’t have much to choose from. In the end, the winner of the selection process was Peter Marušak, a graduate engineer and agriculturist, who has been working at SPF since 2022. His concept was perfect. And here begins the interesting part of the “selection” story.
Minister Samuel Vlčan announced to the winner of the procedure that he is not a suitable candidate for him and he will choose his own. According to our information, his current state secretary should become him. A carousel of intrigues was immediately launched, the aim of which was to convince the presidential palace, the government office and the media that the winner of the selection procedure is a person close to the current director Ján Marosz and is therefore unacceptable to the minister. In other words, the minister is bothered by Marosz’s determination to file criminal charges for the corrupt behavior of his predecessors. Summarized and underlined!
The minister, referring to the government’s promise, will organize a special selection procedure, the real goal of which was to remove the current head of the SPF. When a professionally capable and morally upright candidate wins, he decides without hesitation to ignore this selection procedure and wants to appoint his own person to the leadership of the Slovak Land Fund, of course without a proper selection procedure. Supposedly it should be the state secretary of his ministry. Only the minister knows what the circus was good for. The author of this article knows it. These days, it is in the hands of President Zuzana Čaputová how this story will end, whether she decides to appoint a properly chosen honest person, or whether she will believe the false intrigues of the Minister of Agriculture.
The author of the article is the mayor of Strážský and one of the organizers of the farmers’ protests.
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