Several controversial land transactions carried out by Slovenia’s Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), the country’s so called bad bank, are being investigated by the police and are subject to an audit, news portal siol.net has revealed.

BAMC was established in March 2013 as a government-owned company tasked with facilitating the restructuring of banks of systemic importance to the economy that were facing severe solvency and liquidity problems. 

The government announced in July 2015 that it had decided to extend the lifespan of BAMC until the end of 2022, in order to avoid time pressure and the selling of state assets too cheaply or to less desirable bidders.

According to the news portal, the transactions under investigation involved sales of property through intermediaries which made high profits on the back of them.

One of the transactions mentioned by the Slovenian media refers to the sale of a plot of land in Logatec on which Lonstroff, owned by Japan’s Sumitomo, is currently building an elastomer manufacturing facility. In September last year, BAMC sold the land to a company called Svet Re, which resold it only five days later to the Japanese company, at a much higher price, making €1mn profit.

The transactions are subject to an ongoing audit by Ernst & Young.

Slovenian economy ministry state secretary Ales Cantarutti said the ministry, which awarded Sumitomo a €4.8mn incentive for its investment, had not been included in the negotiations on the sale or purchase of the land.