Mramor also stressed he would not resign over the standby bonuses scandal, adding that he did not know how much money he had received in total. He said he only knew how much money he had received in the last 10 months, putting the figure at 3.700 euros. A few weeks ago it transpired that the deans of nine Ljubljana faculties paid generous bonuses to themselves, professors, senior staff and other employees between 2012 and 2014, even though inspectors found that the recipients were not entitled to the money. According to law, the recipients only have to repay the bonuses they earned over the past 10 months.

Mramor reiterated that he approved the bonuses because his faculty was looking for ways to adequately remunerate its employees for the work they did as part of efforts to become one of the best faculties of economics in the world.

"I asked the faculty’s human resource department how to classify the payments in question, and they told me that standby bonuses would be the most appropriate way. I had no reason to doubt their judgment," Mramor said. He added that only 20 percent of the money went to professors who were also members of the management body, while support staff received the remaining 80 percent. He stressed that the employees were paid for work they actually performed and that a 2009 audit undertaken by the University of Ljubljana did not reveal any irregularities. In response to the question whether he would repay all the bonuses he had pocketed over the years, Mramor answered: "I will respect the decision made by the inspectors, just like everyone else." He said he would repay the money in installments because his salary averaged less than 3.000 euros a month and because he had other expenses that needed to be paid.

Mramor resists calls to resign, describes them as inappropriate
On Monday, the Higher Education Union and Pergam, a trade union association, called upon Mramor and education Minister Maja Makovec Brenčič to stand down. On Tuesday, 100 employees of the University of Ljubljana and the University of Maribor also urged those directly involved in the scandal to resign. Today, Mramor rejected the calls for his resignation, describing them as inappropriate. He said he only made sure the employees were paid for work they actually performed.

G. C.; translated by D. V.