Pavel Weiss and his son Ivan Weiss were influential businessmen connected to the Democratic Left Party. They have been walking with it through the Slovak political scene practically since the days of Mečiarism. The party was an ideal lobbying vehicle for the business family. In the days when they were fighting in the exposed arms business, it was a very important part of doing business in Slovakia.
Pavel Weiss controlled Puli and other affiliated companies. This arms company profited from trade with the state. It bought significant armaments stocks from the state, and in turn acquired significant armaments projects and supplies for the army. It was said that Pavol Kanis, the then Minister of Defence under their influence, was behind the company’s success.
After the arrival of the new millennium, the media began to discuss the so-called Weiss – Kanis – Schmögner deblocation triangle. Pavel Weiss controlled the Delta B company through Puli. This company had a licence from the Ministry of Economy to trade in military material and was also involved in the deblocation of the S 300 air defence system. These were deals in which the Russian army sent parts of armaments to Slovakia in settlement of a Soviet-era debt. The Weiss family had clearly relied on the so-called deblocation of the Russian debt. In the past, another member of the family – Tomáš Weiss – had imported Russian coal through the Bianco Negro company during the reign of Vladimír Mečiar.
The family’s problem in the armaments industry started after the accession of Robert Fico, who began to give contracts to his own sponsors such as Miroslav Výboh and Jozef Brhel. The family was not helped by the dispute with the French. Their company Delta Defence was burnt in a cooperation within the French company Manurhin Group (MG).
Delta Defence was a key partner in the French company and was to revive the production of a company on the verge of bankruptcy. However, on 11 October 2013, the members of MG’s Supervisory Board, delegated by the French state-owned companies GIAT, SOFIRED and Thannberger, voted to remove the members of Delta Defence from the company’s management.
Delta Defence became a shareholder in MG following a request from the former French Minister of Defence, who was looking for a strategic partner for the defence company. The Slovaks, in cooperation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, agreed a 70 million euro deal for the joint venture with Oman, for example.
In Slovakia, the companies connected to Pavel Weiss are mainly engaged in the repair of tracked combat equipment, trade in engineering components or the production of rocket launchers. The family-owned companies have gained access to lucrative contracts mainly thanks to the control of the Military Repair Company Prešov in the 2006 privatisation.
Delta Defence has also been active in supplying equipment under the MOKYS project. It was involved in a tender for a defence communication system worth several billion crowns in cooperation with BAE SYSTEMS. Problems with MOKYS began after the Fico government took office, when Delta Defence was squeezed out of the arms market by other companies.
Ivan Weiss also served in the management of the Slovak Gas Industry (SPP) from 1998 to 2004. After leaving the gas company, he established his own distribution business, spread over a network of companies such as První paroplynová společnost, Leven and T-invest.
Let us recall the history of Leven. The Leven heating plant supplied heat to the district town and its surroundings. For many years with above-standard profits. Why? Thanks to two-thirds lower gas prices than the competition. Ivan Weiss signed the favourable contract for Leven as the director of the strategy of the Slovak Gas Industry in 2004. A few months later, he was sitting in the office on the other side of the deal. He stood behind Leven in terms of assets, advising the company on how to keep SPP in the unfavourable contract.
The company managed to do so for a staggering 6 years despite legal attempts by the opposing party. Staggering even for the Left. Leven was charging the city unusually higher fees for heat than other cities. It was not until 2011 that the gas company was able to terminate the unfavourable contract. Leven’s revenues suddenly fell and it had to ask for restructuring. However, it soon headed for bankruptcy. Its creditors wanted millions of euros from it. The heating company owns, for example, a thermal power plant in Levice and other planned energy projects.
Weiss Jr. is still one of the most important personalities in Slovak business. He is, for example, a co-organiser and player in the horse polo tournament at Štrbské Pleso, where Slovakia’s business and oligarchic leaders ride horses in the protected area every year. Ivan Weiss continued to know how business works. He moves in high circles thanks to his above-standard education, which he could afford thanks to his good background. He was a student at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava. However, he also studied for years at Yale University in the United States.
He also tried his luck in top politics. However, the efforts of his 99% movement, which pretended to be a civic party, collapsed just after it was revealed that it was practically owned by Weiss Jr.
