Slovakia, Bratislava, Presov region - The shadowy land transfer at the heart of the latest Slovak Land Fund (SPF) scandal was directly overseen by Prime Minister Robert Fico's own cousin. The land-restitution section that supervised the dubious transfer of land in villages Velka Lomnica and Stara Lesna (both Presov region) is headed by none other than Robert Fico's relative, 27-year-old lawyer Jaroslav Rybansky, who was therefore partly responsible for the contract.

Fico on Tuesday asked Agriculture Minister Vladimir Chovan to submit a proposal for the dismissal of the SPF management after it accidentally came to light that restituents sold at a bargain price most of the lucrative land that they had been given to a private company called GVM, which is allegedly close to HZDS chairman Vladimir Meciar (government coalition partner of Robert Fico). On Wednesday, the Government dismissed Slovak Land Fund general director Miroslav Mihalik (a Smer-SD nominee) and his deputy Adrian Sandorcin (LS-HZDS), along with the six SPF Council members who were appointed by the Government.

Rybansky has admitted that he knew about this dubious land transfer but claims that he had no power to influence it. "We only assess formal matters, making sure that the papers include all the necessary documents," he said, adding that he saw no reason to inform the premier of what was going on.

Fico's cousin was appointed to his post following a similar scandal in 2007 concerning land in Velky Slavkov (Presov region), which also ended up in GVM's hands. Rybansky refused to say whether the premier helped him to land the job.

(Pravda/TASR/illustration photo)