Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď: I am surprised at the boldness of former Minister Mr Gajdoš to question my statement on the state of the MOD as I have inherited it

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď is opposed to the assertions made by former Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš over the state of the projects prepared by the MOD under his leadership. Speaking for SITA Slovak News Agency, Peter Gajdoš stated that the projects were thoroughly prepared and backed up by funding. The reality, however, is proving the opposite as Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď found out on arrival at the SVK MOD.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď stated: "I am surprised at the boldness of former Minister Mr Gajdoš to question my statement on the state of the MOD as I have inherited it. The situation is much worse than I had anticipated in my worst expectations, even regardless of the COVID-19 implications and the associated economic crisis."

The new Defence Minister used several examples to illustrate the real state of the projects prepared by the ex-MOD leadership. "The politically motivated and systemically mismanaged Service pay increase for soldiers shortly before the parliamentary elections was not covered by the budget, of which I was informed immediately after my arrival at the MOD. In fact, we must take budgetary measures in order to sustain the salaries of soldiers. Additionally, the residential care home for veterans which those responsible had, for over a year, talked about refurbishing at Zemplínska Šírava Reservoir was not secured by funding either, and the intention was to refinance it out of the funds allocated for the inevitable and complex refurbishment of "The Star", also known as "The Corn", the former Service accommodation [at the MOD]." He further noted that specialist MOD components and Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko disagreed in principal with this intention.

On the Sliač Air Base project, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď stressed that no project documentation for resurfacing works had been prepared. "That's why I can't understand on the basis of what documentation did the former government set aside over €55 million of funding for the base's refurbishment," he said.

According to the incumbent Defence Minister, the former MOD leadership engaged in misleading practices, as exemplified by several modernisation projects, both officially announced and under preparation. Jaroslav Naď has since long pointed to such malpractices. A case in point is the 4x4 Multi-Role Tactical Vehicle Programme which was stopped by the Office for Public Procurement because it was evaluated as non-transparent. The 8x8 Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle Programme is no exception either. "It was so non-transparent that even former Prime Minister Pellegrini "did not dare" to refer it to the Government for consideration," said Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď, noting that under the former government the Office of Value for Money, SVK Ministry of Finance, found both projects to be not appropriate for government approval due to their inefficiency and inconsistency with Slovakia's commitments.

As a result of non-transparency, there are fines the SVK MOD must pay to the Office of Public Procurement (ÚVO). "In the case of the F-16 Supersonic Fighter Jet Programme, the MOD has already paid five fines to ÚVO for refusing to make the contracts available to it for perusal. Rather than taking measures towards transparency – and towards relevant state organisations, the SVK MOD under Mr Gajdoš brought a case against the Office for Public Procurement and paid fines, is this normal?" underlined Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď.

"Given these facts, which, unfortunately, are far from a complete list of the fundamental problems of non-transparency by the former MOD leadership, I, if in the place of former Minister Gajdoš, would no longer make public statements on his work in office. He is well aware that several decisions, even those the public has not been informed of yet, are today in the hands of criminal investigation agencies and were already being investigated by the agencies during his time in office – due to illegal activity of his nominees and SNS Party nominees across Defence," concluded Jaroslav Naď, the new head of the MOD.