Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Source: Dnevnik Ljubljana, daily
“Management of the Public Broadcasting Service should make a business decision based on the analysis of the legal and economic elements. This should be done at the latest by the next session of the Supervisory Board meeting, which will be scheduled in the second half of December. This matter has been dragged along for too long,” said the chairman of the Supervisory Board of RTVS Peter Grašek.
As the Ljubljana based Dnevnik already wrote, the management of the public broadcasting service of Slovenia in the early summer accused the agency Media Publikum, led by Tilen Klarič, of dubious and illegal financial gain and counterfeiting of documents. Ljubljana police administration confirmed for the Dnevnik’s journalist that the police has launched an investigation. The documents at the disposal of RTV Slovenia prove that Media Publikum forged their receipts, by which it presented higher costs than the actual to their clients (in this concrete case the pharmaceutical company Lek).
Director of RTV Slovenia Marko Filli confirmed that he would assess all possible scenarios and risks regarding the termination of cooperation with Media Publikum. According to Dnevnik, the risk could be a fall in advertising revenue. Media Publikum, namely, annually buys around 5 million euros worth of advertising inventory from the RTV Slovenia, which is about 40 percent of all ad revenue of this public broadcasting house.
Invoices with prices inflated from 54 to 71 percent
Dnevnik writes that the public broadcasting service has discovered multiple counterfeit invoices, which they have filed along with the criminal complaint against Media Publikum. On one invoice the price of advertising was inflated by 54 percent in relation to the original invoice issued by RTV Slovenia. Those who ‘rigged’ the invoices only changed the prices, while the descriptions of the services provided, as well as the header and the signature on the invoice remained unchanged. In another invoice, which is also filed, the fee was adjusted by 71.4 percent.
According to Dnevnik, representatives of RTV Slovenia and Lek met recently to review the overpaid invoices and check additional ones. In the vast majority of invoices there was an obvious difference between the price on the invoice issued by RTV Slovenia and that which Lek received from Media Publikum. Invoices were related to advertising during sports broadcasts. Lek didn’t comment on journalist’s questions about checking the invoices and whether they are considering criminal charges against Klarič’s agency. They were simply told: “We are familiar with the whole situation and we are studying it.”
Dnevnik’s interlocutors from sources close to RTVS are convinced that the ‘revised’ invoices were much more numerous, and that Lek was not the only victim of this fraud, but that the inflated bills were paid by other companies that publish ads on RTVS and that falsification has been going on for a long time.
Director of Media Publikum Tilen Klarič told Dnevnik journalists that they have issued statements regarding these accusations multiple times (they deny any wrongdoing) and that they do not want to repeat themselves. “We can say that ordering advertising space continues smoothly, and that the client that you mentioned (Lek) still orders advertising under the same conditions as before,” Klarič added, wondering if this is a bit unnatural if they really overpaid.
Other media houses also considering control
One larger media house is also considering a request for probing the invoices in which Media Publikum was an intermediary. They are wondering if others were damaged as well apart from RTVS and Lek – perhaps even they. Dnevnik notices angst in conversation with people from media houses and advertisers alike. The whole thing casts a bad light on the overall advertising industry, while clients are wary of publically admitting that the media buyer had “swindled” them.
Termination of contract as a difficult dilemma for public broadcaster
It should be borne in mind that Media Publikum, which is above average successful agency (last year they generated nearly €50 million of sales revenue, which is eight percent more than the year before, the net profit was €4.5 million, which is 40 percent more than in 2014), possesses great power. Slovenian media are financially very dependent on Media Publikum. Termination of the contract, even for just one year, would, according to Dnevnik’s sources, bring significant loss of income for the public broadcasting service. Of the current five million, about 1.5 to 2 million euros would be gone. Part of this loss RTVS could replace with cooperation with other media agencies or its own advertising business.