Fear of Kočner’s statement and agreed interrogations
According to Denník N, Fico spoke at one of the meetings, for example, about the convicted businessman Marian Kočner, who is serving a long prison sentence for forging bills of exchange. He is also facing charges of ordering the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak. According to Denník N, lawyer Para told Fico that Kočner was touched by a video recorded about him by the vice-chairman of Smer-SD. His statement further showed that Kočner was considering cooperating with the police because of this. Fico responded by saying that he would talk to a party colleague.
The Aktuality.sk portal again stated that former Minister Robert Kaliňák was being prepared for police interrogation by lawyers Para and Gašpar, who have access to investigative files. He was allegedly advised on how to respond to the investigator’s questions, what to comment on and what not, and what strategy the police could count on during the interrogation.
For example, Kaliňák wanted to nominate Ľudovít Makó for the head of the financial administration, now a cooperating accused, to Milan Lučanský. The former police president, who took office after Gašpar, committed suicide in pre-trial detention last year.
The prosecutor’s office said that the lawyers’ actions on the recordings could be qualified as manipulation of witnesses and as a criminal offense of obstructing justice.
Fico also said on the tape that during his vacation from the office, someone stole 50,000 euros and gold coins from him. But he did not turn to the police because “he did not want to explain why he had so much money with him.”
The leak of the mentioned recordings to the media has already been checked by the Attorney General, while the relevant investigator has filed a criminal complaint in this connection.
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The Purgatory case
Although several hours of records were originally taken in another case, the prosecutor’s office eventually submitted them to the court for a proposal to extend the detention of some of the accused in the Purgatory case.
Last year, former police director Gašpar and other senior police officers, including former director of the anti-corruption unit Róbert Krajmer, former director of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) Peter Hrašek and former director of the national unit of the financial police Bernard Slobodník, were detained. Many of them remain in custody due to concerns about possible witnessing and the continuation of crime.
The case involved allegations of crimes of establishment, conspiracy and support of a criminal group, abuse of power by a public official and corruption.
Fico: Feel free to post everything
Former Prime Minister Fico considers the interception of his meetings to be illegal and contrary to democracy. He refused to commit a crime in connection with the meetings. “This is probably the first time within the European Union that the state has officially had the leader of the opposition party monitored and intercepted. There is no worse crime in a democracy than liquidating the opposition through wiretapping, “he said.
He told reporters to calmly publish everything “that prosecutors sent them in violation of the law.” “You will only learn what you have heard or heard from me. I have met with advocates of innocent people and I will meet to have enough information for my political work. I will continue to work to prove innocence unfairly and for political reasons the accused opposition nominees and those associated with the opposition, “he added.
Fico also doesn’t like the way in which the police obtained court approval for wiretapping a hunting lodge, including taking camera recordings.
Former three-time Prime Minister Fico has repeatedly questioned the prosecution of some senior officials and institutions since his party was in power. Slovakia experienced a wave of arrests of judges and other judicial staff, former police officials and other senior officials after last year’s elections, in which Smer-SD was defeated and subsequently left for opposition.
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New Gorilla?
The Slovak media likened the latest wiretaps to a 15-year-old corruption affair called the Gorilla. This concerned suspicions of bribery of senior politicians and officials by the Penta Investments financial group in exchange for its influence on the privatization and operation of some companies during the period when Fic’s Smer-SD was not in power.
Penta has long rejected unfair conduct in the case, and the investigation into the case has not yet been completed. Even then, wiretaps were taken, which later escaped into the media. According to them, in a wiretapped apartment with the co-founder of Penta Jaroslav Haščák also met Fico.
The Gorilla case provoked massive anti-corruption demonstrations in the country. “The current response to the recordings is more lukewarm. Slovakia has experienced a lot in recent years. As for the materials that could act as a detonator, the bar is set really high. However, the media publish the materials in parts, so we do not know what else will appear and what it will do with the local politics and career of Robert Fico, “said Petr Obrovský, a correspondent for the Czech Television in Bratislava.
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