* Finance Minister Jan Pociatek offers resignation
* Prime Minister Robert Fico says will consider offer
* Fico says Pociatek behaved unethically
(Adds PM Fico's comment, analyst)
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 20 (Reuters) - Slovak Finance Minister Jan
Pociatek said on Friday he will offer his resignation following
a sharp appreciation of the crown currency hours before it was
formally revalued last month.
Prime Minister Robert Fico said Pociatek had behaved
unethically by having a social meeting with an investor the
weekend before the devaluation, and he would take this into
account in considering his response to the offer.
Slovakia revalued the crown's central rate within the
European Union's ERM-2 exchange rate mechanism by 15 percent on
May 28. The crown jumped 1.4 percent before the official news of
the revaluation was issued in the late evening.
The opposition has said there may have been a leak of
information to investors by the government, an accusation
Pociatek has repeatedly denied.
However, he has said he made a mistake by having a social
encounter with an investor from a private equity group on a
yacht in Monaco the weekend before the revalation.
"Despite the fact that the finance minister did not do
anything illegal, he does not want this case to harm the
(ruling) Smer-SD party," Pociatek said in a statement issued by
the Finance Ministry.
He said he would tender his resignation to Fico once he
returns from an EU summit in Brussels.
UNETHICAL
Speaking in the Belgian capital before beginning his journey
back to Bratislava on Friday, Fico said: "I will never accept
the resignation because of the leak allegations made by the
opposition."
"The only reason I will take into consideration was this
unethical behaviour," he added, refering to the Monaco meeting.
Pociatek said on Wednesday the revaluation was a response to
the market move earlier in the day, not its cause, and Fico
confirmed this.
The central bank (NBS) has however started investigating
what it says was unusually high trading volume of about 800
million euros ($1.2 billion) before the revaluation. The
market's daily average is around 300 million euros.
Former finance minister Ivan Miklos, now in opposition, said
two private equity groups were buying large volumes of crowns
ahead of the revaluation and local media reported Pociatek met
one of the groups in Monaco the weekend before the decision.
It was an investor from one of these groups whom Pociatek
met in Monaco.
Pociatek's offer to resign came on the day that EU leaders
gave the final green light for Slovakia to adopt the euro on
Jan. 1, 2009.
"Normally, a day after such a decision I would carry the
minister on my shoulders," Fico said.
The leftist Fico, who won 2006 general election on a pledge
to better care for the poor and cut government ties to big
business, has proved he does not hesitate to reshuffle his
cabinet, having already presided over several departures.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Gerrard Raven)
