We reveal how the Assistant General Director for Procurement at the biggest Slovenian hospital (UKC Ljubljana), Drago Kreš, enabled lawyer Nastja Kvas to be promoted despite evidence of mileage fraud—and even took her, at taxpayers’ expense, to a training(?) trip in sunny Florida.
Drago Kreš
Nearly a year has passed since Drago Kreš asked our editorial team in June of last year to stop reporting on UKC Ljubljana following our articles exposing corruption and irregularities. In a meeting, he said they were “cleaning up the inherited mess at UKC Ljubljana” and asked for “six months of media silence” to fix the hospital. We shook his hand and replied: “Alright. Fix our largest hospital—one that is in debt, where corruption is suspected, and where employment is based on personal connections.” We gave them an entire year to fix the irregularities.
Dear readers, let us remind you of our story about the massive deficit at our country’s largest hospital. In that story, Drago Kreš, who oversees procurement, decided to shut down the internal public procurement department and outsource the work to external law firms, claiming they would be faster, cheaper, more transparent, and less prone to corruption. UKC employees wrote to us: “Instead of the 16 professional staff members at UKC Ljubljana, public procurement will now be handled by an external provider—both legally and operationally?! This is a complete sell-off of the public procurement department to the private sector. Where is the public interest in that? I just don’t see it.”
We also reported that Kreš’s favored attorney, Maja Prebil, was in a conflict of interest—teaching hospital staff through the Official Gazette while simultaneously being paid by the hospital. We showed how she evaluated employees during exams and provided legal advice on procurement, all while obtaining contracts through non-transparent direct orders, bypassing standard public procurement procedures.
We were the first to expose how Director Marko Jug selected an electric company car with a tow bar (employees alleged the bar was intended for towing a private trailer) and rejected certain colors. He claimed the car would be used by multiple employees and not just himself. Yet when we requested a list of other users, the answer was: “There are none.”
At Preiskovalno.si, we reported all of this truthfully. We also investigated misuse of public funds, as employees themselves told us that lawyer Nastja Kvas—whom we name for the first time here—got her job without the required experience and misused the mileage reimbursement system. She was given a parking space reserved for employees who live far from the hospital. Based on a declared residence over 100 km from UKC Ljubljana, her boss Drago Kreš granted her the space. According to internal documents, she claimed to commute this distance daily. At the time, UKC Ljubljana told us that employees were reimbursed €0.14 per km, meaning Kvas received roughly €600 monthly on top of her salary.
However, our investigation revealed that Kvas actually commutes from Savska cesta—just a few minutes from UKC. We recorded her multiple times each month driving from a nearby apartment garage to her reserved parking spot. Even nurses, who arguably deserve such privileges more, weren’t afforded them. We were told that at least two employees had been fired for mileage fraud, yet UKC claimed no wrongdoing in Kvas’s case. The issue? We discovered it, not them.
👉 Link to video: https://youtu.be/AAVJ2yyNBB4
We caught Kvas driving from her apartment to UKC Ljubljana on the first day…the second, a week later, and again a month after that. She always arrived within a minute. This ruled out excuses like staying overnight with friends. And how did UKC respond after our investigation? Kreš protected her—his protégé and fellow member of the influential Lions Slovenia network. Instead of being penalized, Kvas was rewarded. She was promoted to Head of Procurement without any trial period, employees told us.
Sunny Florida
Today, we reveal yet another layer: Kreš took Kvas to sunny Florida—again on taxpayers’ dime. Employees report she has neither the most experience nor any justification for this trip. Despite her previous abuse of public funds, UKC swept the mileage fraud under the rug—and now she’s benefiting from further privileges.
Here are the plane tickets to Miami. They flew via Istanbul on June 10 for the World Health Expo, which lasted from June 11–13. They only returned on June 15.
Here is the hotel:
Here are the hotel’s facilities and pool.
Seven days ago, we sent questions to UKC Ljubljana. Despite our good faith in giving them a full year of media silence, they did not respond. We even sent a follow-up explaining that the article would be published by the weekend. Still nothing. We also contacted Drago Kreš, who declined to comment and redirected us to the PR department. It’s worth noting that when Kreš needed our silence a year ago, he didn’t go through the PR department—he asked us himself. But when the questions got too difficult, he hid behind them.
We asked journalists from other outlets when UKC responds to them. The answers were revealing: when they write praise about the hospital’s administration and reforms, they receive replies the same day. Promotional articles are answered immediately. Critical questions? Not at all. We have documented this.
We also learned that Kreš was supposed to submit performance review reports by last Sunday, but instead flew to Miami. Employees also told us that he left a power of attorney to Kvas—which is invalid, since it wasn’t signed by the General Director, Marko Jug.
Let us remind readers that UKC Director Dr. Marko Jug is a close friend of Prime Minister Robert Golob. Under the current government, media reports about UKC’s problems have been scarce—even though the hospital remains deep in debt. Despite this, the state continues to financially support the institution, even though it failed to reduce direct orders, as promised. Public procurement is still largely based on non-transparent direct orders rather than open tenders, as required. Even Slovenia’s Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) found in its analysis that UKC Ljubljana had the highest volume of direct orders in the healthcare sector between 2018 and 2022—totalling €97.5 million. For comparison, Izola General Hospital executed just €19.5 million, and UKC Maribor only €5 million.
Employees Were Right: Kvas Has Always Been Privileged
We informed readers that Kvas and Kreš are both members of the Lions Club, whose website says they are “committed to charity, connection, and true friendship.” Our reporting has consistently shown that Kvas has been privileged from the very start. She did not meet the job requirements when hired, but was granted exceptions. Despite lacking experience, Kreš arranged for UKC to pay €2,500 (VAT included) for her training—even before she had completed her 4-month probation and with no assurance of a permanent contract. That decision was supposed to be made by a commission, but Kreš clearly expected she would be hired.
First, Kvas defrauded the mileage system. Now she holds a senior post and travels at public expense.
A Tainted Commission and Conflict of Interest
As we’ve reported, Drago Kreš has acted wastefully, ineffectively, and recklessly with public funds. In addition to Kvas, he facilitated training for 12 other employees—led by lawyer Maja Prebil, who had a contract with UKC Ljubljana. This represented an undeniable conflict of interest: she delivered training through the Official Gazette, sat on the commission evaluating staff, and had a consulting contract with UKC simultaneously.
She knew exactly what the hospital administration wanted. She planned the training of 12 individuals in coordination with them—while being contractually paid by UKC. Worse still, UKC spent €24,000 on the training without any safeguard requiring employees to remain at the hospital afterward—or reimburse the cost. At least six resigned shortly after, and most are now gone.
Employees also urged us to check how Drago Kreš completed his own training. They claimed he never should have. As we further revealed, Kreš granted lawyer Maja Prebil an €80,000 contract without securing at least two competing bids—it was arranged via direct order, which the National Review Commission (DKOM) later reviewed.
We at Preiskovalno.si have covered the UKC Ljubljana saga thoroughly—until they asked for media silence. We gave them one year.
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/prodajalec-skode-ukc-ljubljana-postavil-na-laz-1092239
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/ne-samo-avto-v-ukc-sporni-tudi-odvetniski-posli-1093089
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/kpk-zaznal-sum-kristev-v-ukc-1093387
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/analiza-1096570
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/razkrivamo-nezakonitosti-v-ukc-ljubljana-1268678
https://preiskovalno.si/clanek/ukc-ljubljana-jo-je-odpustil-dobavitelj-zaposlil-1269597
