Jaroslav Haščák, co-founder of Penta, is one of the most important, most active and most controversial entrepreneurs in Slovakia and the V4 region. He has made fun of politicians, manipulated them, and is in the stomach of many of them, but he controls most of them.
He began his career with other key partners of the later Penta, Mark Dospiva and Josef Oravkin. While Oravkin went on to study in Iran, Dospiva and Haščák, after studying at MGIMO, waited for nothing and started their business at a time when socialism was beginning to shake its foundations.
While Haščák, in presenting his media image, begins with a typical infantile story for financiers about borrowing CZK 5 000 from a friend for his first business, to give us an idea of Penta’s beginnings, it is necessary to slap ourselves with a small dose of reality. During communism, only prominent segments of the population got into the selective schools in Moscow where Penta’s founders studied. These included the children of top communists, civil servants, managers of state-owned foreign trade companies, and members of the executive apparatus of the communist regime.
If one got into a prestigious school, one had to cooperate with the StB or Soviet secret services and show gratitude to the regime. In return, in addition to the knowledge that the rest of the population had no way of acquiring, they also received the freedom and benevolence of the authorities when trying to do business. This is why communist prominence did not only lay the foundations for future political structures eager for power and money, but also, for example, the underworld.
Haščák and Dospiva went to China for an unspecified period of time, where they arranged to import clothes from China to Czechoslovakia under equally unclear conditions. In 1990 they registered their own company in the Czech Republic. They sold their clothes in the famous Kotva in Prague and in the Bratislava House of Fashion. Thanks to this, Haščák became a millionaire, which in those years were really unusually rich people.
More money came in quite quickly. Dospiva and Haščák were to invest in the stock market. However, in the early 1990s, the market resembled an Eldorado, so the actual profits cannot be historically discerned. The origins of one of the strongest financial groups in Eastern Europe date back to 1994. Penta was founded by Jaroslav Haščák, Marek Dospiva and Josef Oravkin. They were gradually joined by Martin Kúšik and Juraj Herko. Kúšik also studied for a time in Moscow, and Herko was Kúšik’s classmate from high school.
The state as a guarantee of a profitable trade
The turning point for Penta came between 1995 and 1997. The group then took control of VÚB Kupón – one of the largest privatisation funds. Just to give you an idea, it was a fund with assets worth around 9 billion Slovak crowns (today’s value of this money would be much higher), which managed over a hundred companies at a time when money was lying on the ground, so to speak.
Penta’s strategy was to invest in various businesses, restructure them to increase their market value and then sell them off at a bargain. It focused on engineering and healthcare, but also on banks and insurance companies.
They have entered dozens of key businesses in this way. For example, the now bankrupt wire factory in Hlohovec or the SNP plant in Žiar nad Hronom. Penta has been a fan of heavy industry for a long time. The real golden egg of its history was the cooperation on deliveries to Východoslovenské železárny, which was riddled with corruption and false invoices from roof to basement and had to be restructured.
Another, but later and more modern project of the group is Slovalco, which produces aluminium and electricity. In 1994, several contracts were signed in connection with a project to renew aluminium production. These included a USD 110 million loan agreement between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Slovalco. At the same time, a contract was signed for the supply of electricity on exclusive terms until 2013. The prices for electricity supply not only for Slovalco started to change in January 2002, when the separate joint stock company Slovenská elektrizační přenosová soustava was established.
The latter started collecting fees for electricity transmission, at that time still according to the price list of the Ministry of Finance. But not from Slovalco due to the exclusive contract. Prices changed even more after the decision of the Office for Regulation of Network Industries was issued in 2003, but surprisingly this did not apply to the Slovalco contracts.
In July 2003, the European Commission issued a directive on the common electricity market. It requires that, from 2005, provisions in electricity supply and transmission contracts that are not in line with the Directive should cease to apply. In the spring and summer of 2004, investors in Slovak Power Plants became aware of the contracts. The Italian Enel, which won the tender for the sale of the shares in the power plants, disliked them the most.
Originally, he wanted to pay much more for the shares of the power plants if the state was willing to take the consequences of the contracts upon itself. However, the state eventually agreed to a price of €840 million for 66 percent of the shares on the understanding that Slovenské elektrárny would accept the terms of the problematic contracts. However, at the end of 2005, when the contractual relations were being changed, the “transmission company” threatened to claim payments for electricity supply services from Slovenske elektrárny. This is what happened.
Slovalco has thus significantly damaged the state and has been drawing above-standard benefits compared to its competitors for a long time. This also became one of the reasons why Eduard Heger’s government refused to save the energy-intensive company in the future during the energy crisis. However, the consequences were mainly borne by the foreign investor, to whom Penta has since sold a majority stake.
The story of the Penta group is accompanied by more controversies, for example at AB Facility. It was shortlisted for a tender to repair 1,700 state buildings in Slovakia. The company offered the best price in the tender, which was evaluated under Interior and Justice Minister Daniel Lipšić and signed under Interior Minister Kaliňák. The tender for repairs at the Police Corps Presidium was carried out, and AB Facility won the tender. The presidium houses, among other important offices and units, the investigation team of the Gorilla case. After the disclosure, Minister Kaliňák confirmed that the ministry will repair this sensitive building itself. He admitted that “this does not give a good impression”, although he said there was no direct danger.
The business of Drátovna Hlohovec was also problematic. It went bankrupt relatively shortly after Penta sold its stake to a new investor. Allegedly, it knew about the hidden debts and the pitfalls of the new production programme that the company was planning.
Penta Group has scored and is scoring points in the Czech Republic. It was behind the inconspicuous purchase of the internet project MobilKom, which operates the mobile operator U:fon, or the strategic purchase of Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizací, which brought Penta the status of a partner without which it simply cannot do without in the sector. The company was the second largest water company in the Czech Republic. In 2006, its financiers sold it to the Spanish water company FCC.
The acquisition of the Fortuna bookmaker was extremely successful. It is one of Penta’s largest retail projects. The Group also bought the well-known Dr. Max pharmacy chain, which is currently the most important pharmacy chain operating on the Czech, Slovak and Polish markets.
Penta also took over the Czech airline Aero Vodochody. For many years, the group has been trying to expand its activities in this industry. Czech development projects, such as the Florentinum shopping centre in Prague, are also significant.
In Slovakia, the group is causing controversy, especially in the health care sector. It includes, for example, the insurance company Dôvera or a major network of private hospitals. The controversy relates to suspicions that the group has been able to manipulate health laws to suit its needs in the past. Zvolenská, the health minister for SMĚR, used to work in its structures and the right-wing ex-minister Uhliarik is still called Pentliarik because of suspicions from the Gorilla file that he repeatedly acted for the benefit of the financial group for a fee.
How much does an MP cost and how to cover it all up
Jaroslav Haščák himself has confirmed in several interviews that Penta has influenced politicians in the past. He even said that he did not have a high opinion of them. He said that they are less clever people with shallow ambitions.
As described above, the documents contain extensive descriptions of Haščák’s meetings with top politicians. Among other things, they talk about the trafic – about Penta buying the votes of government and opposition MPs.
The group was not helped by the confession of a former SIS agent. The former head of counterintelligence, Ľubomír Arpáš, described to investigators that during the incriminated period, the Slovak secret service began eavesdropping on politicians and influential businessmen who allegedly met in one of Penta’s conspiratorial apartments.
The whole thing started when Peter Holúbek, head of the SIS analytical department, noticed in 2005 that the cars of political leaders and influential businessmen were often parked in front of the house on Vazov Street in Bratislava where he lived. The apartment next door to Holúbek was owned by former security guard and businessman Zoltán Varga, who was nicknamed Gorilla for his appearance (hence the name of the file).
The Regional Court in Bratislava agreed to the wiretapping of the apartment. Years later, however, the Constitutional Court ruled on a motion by the owner of the apartment that the wiretaps were illegal, which is the main ace up the Penta group’s sleeve.
According to Ľubomír Arpáš and the Gorilla file, Penta co-owner Jaroslav Haščák, former Economy Minister Jirko Malchárek and former head of the National Property Fund Anna Bubeníková met in an apartment on Vazovova Street in Bratislava. The compromising wiretaps were to be sold by Arpáš to the financial group Penta.
According to Arpáš’s testimony, he was supposed to have met personally with Haščák and Alojz Lorenc, a former StB chief who worked for Penta as head of security. However, Slovak investigative authorities have so far been unable to prove the authenticity of the files despite several statements.
Haščák himself is allergic to the topic of Gorilla. He has long been engaged in expensive lawsuits against the media that have dared to find out more about the files. He also regularly sues other media outlets that are controversial about Gorilla.
That the recording is , however, is believed only by fans of conspiracy theories who accept without question the version propagated by the Penta and its political allies. During the investigation into the murder of Ján Kuciak, the Gorilla recording was discovered in Marian Kočner’s safe. Kočner also kept a copy of it with the former Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka.
Among the material seized during the investigation of Kočner is a recording of Kočner yelling at Dobroslav Trnka for an hour and thirteen minutes. He viciously accuses Trnka of selling a copy of the recording to Haščák, even though, according to him, he had done so himself. On the recording, Kočner, among other things, berates Trnka by saying: “It’s fucking possible that all three of us won’t wake up tomorrow, and I’d hate to, we’re in the same boat this time.”
Why is he talking about three? The Attorney General Dobroslav Trnka and his accomplices, the lawyer Lórant Kósa and the mayor of Dolní Bar, Oskár Bereczk, made “samples” from the Gorilla recordings, which they sent to Haščák’s lawyer and demanded money to destroy them. He confirmed that Trnka had played him excerpts from Gorilla years ago, even in the presence of Robert Fico at the Government Office. Richard Sulík, the chairman of the SaS party, also knew about Gorilla and was played the recordings during a personal meeting with Marian Kočner. Meeting with Kočner is one of Sulík’s biggest political failures to this day, see the so-called Sasanka case.
In January 2019, TV JOJ published a recording of financier Jaroslav Haščák and the voice of Trnka’s other accomplice, Oskar Bereczek, from 2014. That is the first question. The second question is why did he give it to you? The third question is who sent Kósa to our lawyer. The fourth question, what is the actual interest, is it to serve our blackmail or what is it? Fifth question, that what is actually your role in this, specifically?” Haščák asks.
Penta’s defence that the recording never existed is therefore extremely silly and the financiers’ questioning only gets away with it because of Slovak conditions, where the scale of corruption is so massive that it reaches into the highest levels of politics. The public is so overwhelmed by the pervasive corruption that it has become apathetic and incapable of assessing reality.
In its defence, Penta claims that the recording does not exist, but adds in the same breath that it was made illegally. For other recordings, they claim that they are simply not real and that Penta was never blackmailed by the Gorilla recordings.
Haščák and journalistic whores (excuse the vulgarities, these are quotes from a captain of business)
Jaroslav Haščák knew Marian Kočner more than well. Haščák has denied it in the past. After later revelations, he admitted that Kočner belonged to his “wider circle of acquaintances.” However, according to the Jan Kuciak Investigative Centre, which has studied data from Marian Kočner’s archives, it is known that Haščák visited Kočner at his 50th birthday party, where he met with the Prosecutor General Trnka or even Petr Tóth – the controversial intelligence officer who played a significant role in planning the murder of Jan Kuciak. Through the Threema app, Kočner and Haščák repeatedly wrote vulgarities about journalists, and Haščák described how he buys media outlets (7plus, Trend, Vltava Labe Media, Nový čas and others) to clean them up. Jaroslav Haščák and other members of Penta routinely interfered with editorial work, and there are also well-known stories of how journalists from their own media were vulgarly and aggressively abused to their faces.
The group wanted the Gorilla recording destroyed by later convicted special prosecutor Kováčik. He also ordered it. However, the investigative team tricked Kovachik and sent him only a copy of the recording. Haščák was later charged, but only with trafficking in the recording, for which he spent several months in detention. After his release, Haščák legally attacked state institutions that had anything to do with the investigation. Nevertheless, Penta has managed to maintain its image as a reputable financial group, especially in the Czech Republic.
Citizenship for sale
In Slovakia, during the period covered in this chapter, the transformation of organised crime, and not only domestic crime, continued. As part of the European Union, the country was an attractive stop for many transnational gangs needing a bridge between their home country and the EU Schengen area.
Therefore, the buying of honorary positions or citizenship continued. One of the most obvious examples is the head of the gang that built the Balkan drug route – Dragoslav Kosmajac – who obtained Slovak citizenship in 2004. Years later, Kosmajac began to be labelled by Serbian politicians as the most dangerous mafia boss. Kosmajac responded to their announced hunt by moving to other European countries thanks to a valid passport from Bratislava. Kosmajac’s tried and tested approach was soon followed by another Serbian drug lord, Darko Saric.
Later President Andrej Kiska, for example, pointed to the buying of Slovak citizenship. He confronted the foreign minister who led diplomacy in the first three Fico governments – Miroslav Lajčák. He admitted that Slovak citizenship was simply bought by the mafia from specific corrupt officials who ignored the requirements of the law on issuing citizenship.
