The case of Matjaz Rogelj

From a media comedy into the penal code

Have the media prankster Joey Skaggs and his assistant Miso Alkalaj lost control of their hoax with Matjaz Rogelj?

Delo, March 4, 2001

Ljubljana. The mask in the case of Matjaz Rogelj, the alleged unofficial computer champion from Rio in Brazil, has been taken off on Shrove Tuesday. The director and playwrite of this first-class hoax is an American, a known media artist Joey Skaggs, who was assisted in his work by Miso Alkalaj of the Jozef Stefan Institute; the leading part has been performed by Matjaz Rogelj from Komenda. The media hoax has been more than successful, protagonists are satisfied, but what about the fate of Matjaz Rogelj?

After the affair was unmasked, the student at the Faculty of law should have withdrawn into the backstage of this affair, if not into anonymity. As, with hoaxes of this sort, the cream of media attention is skimmed by ideological leaders, in our case Joey Skaggs and Miso Alkalaj. At least that is the way matters had proceeded until now, even in Slovenia, when the media was taken in by Skaggs' and Alkalaj's news that genetic trials had been performed at the Jozef Stefan Institute. But in the case of the unofficial world computer championship something went wrong. It went wrong badly because the taxpayers' money of the Ministry for Science, Education and Sport was involved.

"I am glad that the media have discovered me, I am also amazed that they succeeded so quickly. This was my intention, I am an artist and this is what I do. I congratulate the Slovenian journalists that they have discovered all the data and that they have caught me in the lie. Anyway, the hoax has been going on for four years. We wanted to attract the attention of big computer companies, to involve also Russia, but you preempted us" said Joey Skaggs in a telephone interview for Delo.

When asked if this means that Rogelj had not even taken part at the European computer championship four years ago and what had really happened in Rio, if everything is a hoax, Skaggs said "There had never been any European or a world championship. Everything is just a hoax concocted in cooperation with Miso Alkalaj who will most probably deny everything. I wanted to prove that media cannot and should not dictate and describe events and convince us of something if this is not true."

What about the money that Rogelj got from the state, do you know anything about it?

"No, I am hearing about it for the first time, what money? I do not get any money for my media hoaxes and I do not know anything about it. If Matjaz, whom I have known since 1997, we have met at the Jozef Stefan Institute, got any money from the state, I do not know anything about it and I got nothing out of it. You have to ask him," said Skaggs.

Miso Alkalaj, who has twice cooperated in tests of media alertness and basic journalistic procedures required before informing the public to ascertain the facts, did not want to give any statements. When asked what he thought about the implication of the taxpayers' money, he replied "Respect my decision that I do not wish to give any statements. I do not wish to comment."

The crucial issue of this plot is not the media hoax, Skaggs or Alkalaj, but an extremely talented 22-year old student from Komenda. As asserted by Skaggs, Rogelj had known about the hoax for four years. He hoaxed Janez Sustersic, the headmaster of the college of Bezigrad and later used him as a reference for acquiring money from the Ministry. He was away from classes for one whole school year on the pretext that he had been preparing for the championship. Later he took off for Australia on a few month computer sabbatical which was supposed to be a reward for winning the European championship which had never taken place. Rogelj has been in Brazil for three months participating at the unofficial world championship which does not exist. The State, precisely the Minister for Education Slavko Gaber, reimbursed Rogelj the expenses for the European championship, Pavel Zgaga and Lovro Sturm paid for his preparations for the alleged world championship in Brazil, some private enterprises also contributed a few million.

Tone Vrhovnik Straka, PR at the Ministry for Science, Education and Sport says "Ministry for Education, Science and Sport, at the time Ministry for Education and Sport, financed Matjaz Rogelj's professional training, as the contracts specify, 'for world computer championship'." The contracts were prepared on recommendations of the headmaster of secondary school and the documentation of the Institute SAT 5 from New York. We conclude that, in addition to the written proofs and discussions with Mr. Rogelj, former ministers must have gathered relevant information from other sources as well (in 1996 Mr. Rogelj made reference to reputable companies as co-organizers and sponsors). In their conviction of the right decision they were guided by undivided media support for the young computer genius. There are numerous articles available to the public, his participation in radio and TV shows. Ever since 1996 till the end of this week the fils rouge of them all was why the state does not support reknown computer talent. In accordance with three contracts the Ministry paid Rogelj, the tolar countervalue of US dollars 15,000 against a contract dated October 1997; SIT 5,000,000 against a contract from October 1999 and SIT 5,000,000 against a contract from August 2000. On 27th February 2001 the Ministry summoned Rogelj to submit the proof of his expenditures of financial means received in accordance with the above mentioned contracts in seven days. All contracts contain a stipulation that if it is established that the means have been utilized for other purposes than those stated in the contract, the beneficiary is obliged to return the funds to the state budget with their due interest."

At this point the scenario made by Skaggs and Alkalaj changes from media comedy to tragedy, especially for Matjaz Rogelj. "Declaring false circumstances to the Ministry in order to gain financial benefits is considered to be a fraud, or a punishable fraudulent act in accordance with the article 217 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia. For the basic form of this criminal act the penalty of imprisonment is up to three years, for the qualified form up to eight years," was the comment on the Rogelj case by Franc Mazi, the assistant to the chief state prosecutor.

When asked what would happen if Rogelj returns the money to the state, Mazi (rather, the law) is pitiless: "Even if he returns the money, it is just an extenuating circumstance. The act itself is punishable by the law." Did Skaggs and Alkalaj foresee such consequences? And this is not all.

"Nobody knew what it was about: We paid for Matjaz's improvement in English in London so that he would do well on the European contest. Then he took part in the European contest which should have been held in Ljubljana; he supposedly won a trip to Australia. We've got photos from Australia. He has been in Brazil for three months: We have partly covered his travel expenses. At least, this is what Matjaz told us. Believe us, we have heard about the hoax from the media, we are distraught, we have all lost 10 kgs. We are waiting for his return on Saturday" told Marija Rogelj, Matjaz's mother who had last spoken with her son on Monday morning. She said that he was still in Rio de Janeiro.

Has Rogelj who is ironically enough an excellent student of law thought out this equation with taxpayers' money and laws well? What is the responsibility of Miso Alkalaj? Have the media, as the hoaxers originally planned, really drawn the shortest straw?




© 2001 Joey Skaggs