The government has published a proposal for changes to the statute of the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) or bad bank, which aim to secure more transparency in its operations following a wave of accusations about dodgy practices.
In line with the proposal BAMC, formally launched in March 2013, will need to adopt internal acts that set down in detail the criteria, procedures, rules and monitoring of management processes.
The government wants the same transparency when it comes to staffing, stressing the need to systemically define all posts at BAMC, and to secure independence, the use of objective criteria and transparency in all decisions leading to appointments.
This applies both to internal staff and to external contractors, the proposal indicates, pointing to the need for expert criteria and the pursuit of the highest ethical standards.
Decisions need to be guided by the interests of BAMC and conflict of interest avoided, including by immediately disclosing such cases.
The statute moreover introduces a new chapter on securing integrity and preventing corruption. The management will need to appoint an integrity officer, who will draw up measures, raise awareness about integrity and corruption risks at the bad bank, and cooperate with authorities.
All employees of BAMC will have the duty to inform the officer of potential illegal or unethical situations, including any contacts that are legally considered as lobbying.
The move by government comes after the bad bank has been under heavy fire, including from the Corruption Prevention Commission, for lack of transparency in its operations and conflict of interest, for instance in the EUR 2.52m contract with consultancy Quartz+Co, which is associated with Torbjörn Mansson, until recently the acting executive director of BAMC.
It moreover follows an unanimous decision in parliament last week to extend freedom of information disclosure requirements from the public sector to state- and municipality-owned firms.
This also means that the bad loans that have been transferred from majority state-owned commercial banks to BAMC will be disclosed. BAMC will have to release data on the clients, the persons who approved the loans and the collateral.
Source: Slovenia Times
