Select a language
SME's front page annonces that Swiss financial police have opened an investigation into possible money laundering by the Slovak Minister for the Environment. The minister is suspected of playing a key role in a 2008 transaction to sell Slovak carbon credits to the American Interblue Group, whose European subsidiary is located in Switzerland. It appears that there were no other bidders for the carbon credits obtained by Interblue at a third of the market rate, a deal which amounted to a loss of 66 million euros for the Slovak exchequer. The American company subsequently filed for bankruptcy in 2009. With three months left to run before general elections, the daily notes that if the allegations prove to be true, the affair could have a "devastating" impact on Robert Fico's government and the Slovak leader's chances of obtaining a second term in office.
