THE SLOVAK police's anti-corruption unit has shelved an investigation against Economy Minister Pavol Rusko for his alleged blackmail of Miroslav Rapšík, general director of the SE electricity utility, the news wire TASR wrote.
The investigator concluded that the alleged criminal act was not committed. The Prosecutor's Office received the decision on April 1.
Allegations against Rusko appeared in August 2003, but Rapšík himself said at the time that nobody had tried to extort from him.
Investigations of Rusko followed several threads - blackmail, gross pressure, and white-collar crime. Of the six cases involved, the five remaining cases date back to 1998 - 2001 and concern the Drukos company.
This firm belonged to a group of companies running unlicensed deposit companies that collapsed in 2002. Rusko's activities allegedly cost Drukos about Sk65 million (€1.6 million). Drukos director František Mojžiš is one of the very few bosses of such companies not taken into custody.
Rusko has said that the accusations might have been laid by politicians of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), who control the interior and justice ministries.
