Ljubljana/Vienna - Allegations that an arms maker bribed Slovenia's prime minister have inflamed the election campaign in a nation that likes to see itself as a sunny post-Balkan success. Less than two weeks before Slovenes choose a new parliament, the EU nation of 2 million is abuzz with one word: Patria, the state-controlled Finnish firm that won Slovenia's biggest defence contract in 2006.
With re-election at stake, Prime Minister Janez Jansa has denied a Finnish television report that claimed he received part of 21 million euros (30 million dollars) that Patria allegedly paid top Slovenian officials to seal the deal.
An Austrian businessman who advised Patria told a Slovenian newspaper there was no evidence Jansa had a direct role in the 278-million-euro (400-million-dollar) sale of 135 armoured personnel carriers.
But the political firestorm has led to questions about Slovenian authorities, who critics say have been slow to investigate after Finland and Austria opened bribery probes months ago.
Jansa is battling to save a centre-right coalition that won power in 2004 on a promise of market reforms and led Slovenia into the eurozone.
Just three months ago, he was hosting US President George W Bush when Slovenia held the six-month European Union presidency, the first ex-communist nation to chair the bloc.
Now the "Patria affair" has eclipsed other issues, such as inflation running at a eurozone high of nearly 7 per cent. Newspaper websites are filled with strident partisan debate.
Jansa, 50, has pulled out all the stops.
He claims his political foes on the left orchestrated the bribery affair. His government said it would sue Finland's YLE public broadcaster and reporter Magnus Berglund over the allegations.
Summoned by the governing coalition to debate the affair, Slovenia's parliament met Tuesday for an emergency session.
"This charge is absurd and untrue," Jansa told lawmakers. "I vehemently deny it."
Patria's impact on the September 21 election is hard to gauge, but polls still show Jansa's Democratic Party leading the main opposition Social Democrats. One survey suggested that Jansa's popularity has risen since the disputed TV report aired on September 1.
YLE said Jansa played a "key role" in the selection of Patria for the arms deal and channeled some of the bribe money into illegal funding for his party. Civil servants in Slovenia's defence ministry also got kickbacks, the broadcaster said.
Patria beat out Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH, an Austrian company owned by US defence contractor General Dynamics Corp, for the Slovenian contract.
As Finnish crime investigators pursued a probe into suspected bribery by Patria, Jorma Wiitakorpi quit as the company's chief executive in August.
Two former employees were arrested on suspicion of making illegal payments to secure sales in Slovenia, Croatia and Egypt.
While the Finnish TV report cited sources "inside Patria and ... gathered abroad," Berglund says he is keeping the evidence under wraps to protect his sources.
Jansa, a former journalist and a key figure in organizing Slovenia's 10-day war of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, has clashed with the media before.
Last September, more than 400 journalists signed a petition accusing Jansa of government interference in the media. Jansa, his democratic credentials challenged before chairing the EU, insisted that the media in Slovenia are free.
