BRATISLAVA (SITA) Bratislava Mayor Peter Kresánek did not confirm the political background of the Revital Cause, nor did he repudiate political involvement. He said that the prompt court action in the matter is more than interesting. He also decried the illegal blocking of the city's accounts that also comprise state money as well as the fact that the Town Hall learned about the block only the day it began. The two-week deadline for the Town Hall to issue protests against the Bratislava I Regional Court terminated on Wednesday midnight. The plea is already registered with the Bratislava court. The International Arbitrage Court in Vienna decided on July 29, 1997, that the Bratislava Town Hall and the Old Town (Bratislava district) must pay 130 million shillings (about 355 million SKK) to the V.I.P. Bau Projekt Wien, one of partners of the Slovak-Austrian Revital company, that, according to a contract signed by former Old Town Mayor Miloslava Zemková, was to reconstruct Old Town buildings. However, the Old Town Authority withdrew from the contract in 1993 for as yet unspecified reasons. REVITAL filed a lawsuit against the Old Town district with the Vienna Arbitrary Court, which ordered the distraint of the Old Town property and a block on its accounts. The Bratislava Town Hall protested against the decision of the Vienna Arbitrage Court and asked for its cancellation, and on January 28 the Arbitrary Court canceled the Bratislava I District Court-ordered distraint. This decision, which reached the District Court on Wednesday afternoon, can mean the unblocking of the towns accounts. However, the town still does not respond to any financial claims. The accounts should be unblocked in the days to come, according to Kresánek. The press alleges that international court decision and legal amateurism allegedly ruling Bratislava's self-administration resulted in Local Authority Bratislava-Old Town bankruptcy. The spokesman for Bratislava's Mayor did not rule out that efforts of "some circles" to discredit Bratislava's self-administration are behind the case. As the spokesman stated for radio Twist Bratislava, Town Hall and Old Town representatives are convinced that the matter is an unpleasant misunderstanding that could very seriously damage and discredit not only self-administration of the Slovak capital, but also threaten the operation of the city's basic functions.