We have exposed the actions of a lawyer, employed at the University Medical Centre (UMC) Ljubljana, who is a close associate of the procurement chief Drago Kreš. In his media appearances, Drago Kreš claims to be exposing corruption. However, we are disclosing illegal practices in the procurement of goods and services at our largest hospital, which incurred a 30-million deficit in the first eight months of last year.

The photograph shows the parking space of the lawyer N. K., who is employed at the UMC Ljubljana in the legal department of the procurement activity area. The parking space was assigned to N. K. by her boss Drago Kreš.

The list of assigned parking spaces shows that N. K. obtained the parking space based on her permanent residence, which is 101 kilometers away from the medical centre. She is supposed to commute this distance every day in both directions. The UMC Ljubljana pays its employees mileage, which amounts to approximately 0.14 euros per kilometer. At 101 kilometers, this means that employees who commute daily in both directions receive just under 600 euros in pay every month. However, does Kreš's chosen lawyer, who was assigned a parking space, really commute every day from home to the place 101 kilometers away and back? The answer is no. N. K. lives just a kilometer away from the UMC Ljubljana and drives a car to work every day.

We filmed N. K. on her way to work on multiple occasions. Each time it took her just around a minute to commute from her home to UMC Ljubljana. Those occasions are not coincidences that one can explain with excuses, such as staying at a friend’s place.

Is Drago Kreš, as her superior, aware of the misuse of mileage? Did she inform her superiors that she does not live 101 kilometers away from the UMC Ljubljana? Drago Kreš and the lawyer N. K. are members of the influential interest group Lions Slovenia; as they state on their website, they are committed to charity, networking, and true friendship. Is N. K., because of her acquaintance with Drago Kreš, receiving privileges that medical nurses, who cannot get a parking space, do not have? The UMC Ljubljana has informed us that suspicions of abuse are, upon receiving a report, investigated at the request of the corporate security service. Recently, the authorized officer for personal data allegedly received an extraordinary dismissal due to mileage abuse.

The attorney N.K. has several privileges. According to our information, Kreš knew upon her employment that N.K. did not meet the requirements for work experience, yet they turned a blind eye. Furthermore, she attended a course worth 2500 euros with VAT that was paid by the UMC, even though N.K. had not yet completed the 4-month probationary period and there was no guarantee she would receive a permanent contract. The decision whether she is offered a permanent contract, is made by the commission. However, it seems Drago Kreš was confident that she would obtain regular employment. N.K. completed the training.

Contentious committee and conflict of interest

According to our information, Drago Kreš, using UKC funds, also arranged the same training for 12 other employees. Lawyer Maja Prebil, who has a contractual relationship with UKC Ljubljana, conducted the training. This is an undeniable conflict of interest. (We will address the contract further below.)

Therefore, in addition to lecturing and being on the committee that evaluated the knowledge of UMC Ljubljana employees, Maja Prebil also had a consulting contract with UMC Ljubljana. Thus, she knew that it was in her client's interest for 12 employees to complete the training. Furthermore, at least six individuals for whom Drago Kreš facilitated training, for which UKC Ljubljana paid over 24 thousand euros, have since resigned. These employees are the following: P.M.S., T.Č., K.K., D.D., T.P., P.K.

In this regard, Kreš did not ensure that those individuals would return the funds in the event of departure, nor did he require employees under contract to remain with the employer for some time after training at UMC Ljubljana.

Thousands of euros in fines due to a controversial contract with lawyer

The UMC Ljubljana’s contract with lawyer Maja Prebil amounting to 80 thousand euros, which we exposed on our website, is under the scrutiny of the State Review Commission as an anonymous complaint was filed with the State Review Commission (DKOM). The contract was concluded on a purchase order without a public tender and without obtaining at least two competitive bids.

According to our reliable sources, DKOM has already considered the complaint and forwarded it to a misdemeanor judge. The penalty for the responsible person, in this case for Drago Kreš or for the director of UKC Ljubljana Marko Jug, could range from 500 to 2000 euros. For a legal entity, such as UKC Ljubljana, the judge can impose a fine ranging from 25 thousand to 100 thousand euros. This is not negligible, as it involves taxpayers' funds. Was this why the management rushed to conduct a public tender for director liability insurance?

The second lawyer and misappropriation of public funds

According to our reliable information, the contract with lawyer Maja Prebil was reviewed and approved in the internal EDGE information system by the head of the legal department in procurement, A. D. She obtained the position at UMC Ljubljana with the help of connections. The contract should have rejected the con in the system. A. D. should have at least written a comment to the management stating that this type of advisory service is not an exception according to Article 27 of the Public Procurement Act, and for which a direct contract should not be concluded. The amount of the contract is also questionable. The amount of the procurement order is limited to services up to 40 thousand euros excluding VAT per year. The amount of the concluded contract was twice as much. If the UMC Ljubljana receives a financial penalty due to this contract with lawyer Maja Prebil, all those involved who approved it should be held accountable. This is indeed misappropriation of public funds.

Illegalities: millions flowing out under Drago Kreš

In Monday’s interview, aired on POP TV, Drago Kreš said several things that angered employees at UKC Ljubljana and those who have left in recent years and months. Drago Kreš reportedly said several falsehoods; among them, that they saved more funds due to a new method of public procurement and that some employees resisted the new method and had to be fired from procurement because of it.

Let's go through his statements step by step.

These are the empty offices of the procurement department in our largest hospital.

There is an alarming and unprecedented shortage of staff in the procurement department of the UMC Ljubljana. Around 200 tenders per year, which were previously handled by approximately 20 employees, are now on the shoulders of a handful who are unable to cope due to the exodus of colleagues. They are unable to carry out public procurement procedures as required by the relevant legislation, which would ensure the economical and lawful use of public funds and consequently the conclusion of contracts for services, goods, and construction. In the last two and a half years, at least 20 employees have left.

Here are just a few who have left.We do not want to name them by their full names for their protection: L. C., S. Š., P. S., P. N., T. Č., S. S., D. D., K. K., A. A., T. P., S. Z., P. K. Why protection? The head of procurement, who is responsible for all departures and the unlawful situation, publicly slandered their past work when the results were better than they are today. They even threaten collective legal action against Drago Kreš. This is what threeformer employees told us:

“It has never been this critical!”

“Work is being done unlawfully!”

“There has never been such corruption as there is now.”

Our sourcesnow have secured positions in reputable companies. None of them are indicted or criminally prosecuted. The figures on past achievements compared to now, under Drago Kreš's leadership in procurement, speak volumes.

Fact: Fragmentation of public procurement with suspicion of illegality

Since Drago Kreš took over procurement, the number of recorded orders has increased eightfold. In 2021, according to publicly available data, recorded orders amounted to 7 million, while in 2023, they amounted to 54 million. Recorded orders themselves are not illegal, but they become so when delivery notes are signed for amounts that exceed the threshold values specified by the Public Procurement Act, beyond which the publication of a public procurement notice on the Public Procurement Portal/EU Gazette is required. To conceal this illegality, delivery notes for similar goods are fragmented, and the amounts naturally exceed the threshold values (goods and services 40,000 EUR excluding VAT, and construction 80,000 EUR excluding VAT). The increase in recorded orders that do not comply with the Procurement Act represents illegality for which the legislator has envisaged various forms of sanctions.

Evidence: Favoritism towards a single provider and wasteful handling of public funds

One of the most controversial recorded orders from the UMC Ljubljana exceeding 40 thousand euros annually is a long-standing contract with Telekom or a concluded agreement (which has no legal basis in the Procurement Act), valued at a staggering 737,000 euros. This is entirely illegal on the part of UMC Ljubljana. They favored and selected a single provider.

UKC Ljubljana should have conducted a new public procurement procedure for telecommunication services, thereby opening up competition (one of the fundamental principles of the Procurement Act) and allowing other operators or providers to apply. Given the current competition in the market, it is reasonable to expect lower prices and thus act as a prudent and economical, lawful custodian of public funds.

Upon reviewing some random recorded orders, we found that delivery notes for latex gloves are ordered for amounts exceeding 40 thousand euros, for example. Gloves are not occasional items for the UMC Ljubljana’s procurement department to be surprised by, justifying purchases based on delivery notes. These are consumables they have always needed on a daily basis. The contracts for these goods were awarded to Sanolabor without conducting proper public procurement procedures. Through fragmentation. Recorded orders under numbers 1011, 1051, 1052, 740 exceed 40 thousand euros for the same product or similar goods (gloves). The total amount is 65 thousand euros. No public procurement procedure was conducted to obtain other offers.

The recorded order number 2052 is a delivery note for IT services with the company Unistar. Unacceptable. It amounts to 296,450 euros. The same modus operandi as with the Telekom provider – the UMC Ljubljana does not conduct a public procurement procedure, thus ensuring business solely to the in-house supplier Unistar for several years.

This is also the case with smaller orders.

And so it goes with syringes of various volumes. The recorded order numbers are 1494 and 1496. The total amount for the supplier already reached 74 thousand euros.

Before Drago Kreš came to UMC Ljubljana, the results of public procurement were much better, and concealing guaranteed funds to suppliers did not result in savings. Who says the funds available for supplier payments are not issued by Drago Kreš to the favored provider? Let's say he tells them: “Lower the price by 20 percent, and you'll win.” There are no such assurances, say former employees. The current method of negotiation, when the regular procedure fails, is not better judged. Drago Kreš claimed they “saved 13 million euros.” However, in the meantime, when the regular procedure failed and they conducted 6 rounds of negotiations for some supply, they continuously ordered equipment using recorded orders at the unreduced regular price. And here, as public data shows, there are significant financial losses.

In 2021, there were recorded orders for 7 million euros.

In 2022, for 41 million euros.

In 2023, it rose to 54 million euros.

UMC Ljubljana did not send us data on the increase in recorded orders; we obtained the data from the Public Procurement Portal.

Information leakage to major suppliers of the UMC Ljubljana

As early as November 16th last year, we sent an email to the President of the UMC Council requesting information on the increase in recorded orders. Even three months later, she knew nothing about it. Yesterday, when we spoke with Irma Gubanec, she was not aware of the recorded order figures, which is unusual. We also spoke with some other members of the UMC Council who specifically requested to remain anonymous. We heard clichés about how the financial situation was improving internally, while at the same time, various audit firms within the institution discovered a heap of irregularities.

According to our information, Marko Jug is not informed about the real situation prevailing in procurement. He blindly trusts Drago Kreš, with whom he is friends. However, our sources predict lawsuits against Kreš and Jug because they publicly speak about the alleged corruption of former employees. Some former employees were indeed accused of corruption by everyone, but they were ultimately dismissed for entirely different reasons in a manner that will be difficult to sustain in court, our sources say. Additionally, we have learned the following: allegedly corrupt employees took away extremely important information from the UMC Ljubljana (related to the absence of the corporate security department) and were employed by one of the largest suppliers of the UMC Ljubljana. If this supplier increases its business with the UMC Ljubljana due to the leakage of information, then Jug and Kreš have done a disservice to our largest hospital by dismissing the allegedly corrupt employee.

Disclaimer: In the editorial office, we have decided not to name individuals with their full names to prevent potential media or public lynching. We aimed to highlight systemic anomalies rather than engage in personal discreditation of individuals. However, we retain all names in our editorial office in case investigative authorities would need them.