The former head of the Military Defence Intelligence (VOS) counter-intelligence service, Pavol Brychta, has not yet received any information about charges in the case of the wiretapping of journalists by his former agency despite the deputy general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka saying at the beginning of the week that the first people had already been charged, the Sme daily reported.

“I do not know about being accused,” said Brychta, as quoted by Sme, adding that he has not even been called to give evidence in the case.

The VOS faced accusations of illegal wiretapping after the media reported that it had bugged three journalists from the Pravda daily, as well as the director of the TV news channel TA3, Michal Gučík. Trnka announced the first charges when appearing on TA3 over the weekend.

As the charges were officially passed on Monday, February 20, it could take some time before the people named receive them, Sme wrote.

The Office of Parliament told the daily that it had not received any request for criminal prosecution of former defence minister Ľubomír Galko, who was serving as minister when the wiretapping in question was revealed. Galko was fired as defence minister after the revelations and, as he now sits as an MP for Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), enjoys parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

Meanwhile, the Nový Čas daily published pictures of Brychta apparently visiting Prime Minister Iveta Radičová to tell her about the wiretapping. Radičová, who has been acting as defence minister since she dismissed Galko, has released Brychta him from his oath of secrecy to allow him to give evidence in the case.

Source: Sme

For more information about this story please see: Minister sacked over wiretapping scandal

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.