Slovak economy minister steps down over allegations of nepotism

Slovak Economy Minister Pavol Pavlis resigned from his post on Tuesday over allegations of nepotism.

Pavlis made the decision after speaking with Prime Minister Robert Fico earlier in the day, confirmed Pavlis´s spokesperson Miriam Ziakova.

"Pavlis has assumed political responsibility for information concerning him that was published by media. The smearing of his name represents potential damage to the party that nominated him as well as to his personal reputation and that of his family," added Ziakova.

According to article published in daily SME on Tuesday, David Sipos, the owner of a cleaning company called Sitis, received commissions worth hundreds of thousands of euros from organisations operated by the economy minister. Sipos is also a brother-in-law of Pavol Pavlis.

SME reported that Sitis was founded in August 2012, four months before Pavlis' arrival at the Economy Ministry as state secretary. Two months later, the company signed its first contract with Economy Ministry worth more than 20,000 euro (21,400 U.S. dollar) and subsequently also received deals at other ministries.