Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic

Bratislava, December 11, 2020 - The increase in the price of almost 6 billion completion of the third and fourth units of the Mochovce nuclear power plant (EMO34), as well as its delay, was caused by reserves in the company's operations, but also by insufficient coordination between the private investor and the State. There are also significant risks in the ineffective use of control mechanisms by the State. This is stated by the national authority for the area of external control (Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic – SAO SR) in its report from the audit result sent for discussion to the Economic Committee of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Serious audit findings were also sent to the bodies active in criminal proceedings. In this audit, the national auditors followed up on the cross-sectional audit at Slovenské elektrárny in 2015 initiated by the Members of Parliament.

The joint-stock company Slovenské elektrárne has not managed its strategic project at a sufficient level and its final profitability is reduced by extending the completion dates of the power plant several times. The auditors found that in the process of completion there was a high rate of defects and, at the same time, several annexes or new supply contracts. According to Ľubomír Andrassy, the Vice-President of the SAO SR, the Ministry of Economy, which acts on behalf of the Slovak Republic in the power plant statutory bodies, did not sufficiently pursued the interests of the State in managing and controlling the strategic company functioning.

The full text of the press release about this issue in Slovak language is available here. Use the Google icon in the top bar for automatic translation.