Opposition wants a no-confidence vote in Justice Minister Harabin

Opposition parties SDKÚ and KDH plan to start collecting the 30 signatures necessary to summon an extraordinary parliamentary meeting for a vote of no-confidence in Justice Minister Štefan Harabin, it was announced on July 14.

Opposition parties SDKÚ and KDH plan to start collecting the 30 signatures necessary to summon an extraordinary parliamentary meeting for a vote of no-confidence in Justice Minister Štefan Harabin, it was announced on July 14.

According to KDH vice-chairman Daniel Lipšic, the reason for this move is Harabin's connection with a person suspected of drug trafficking. But Parliament will address the no-confidence vote no sooner than September due to the parliamentary recess.

Lipšic said it was legitimate to show no-confidence in a minister, even though there is a very little chance that it will be successful.

"The possibility of a no-confidence vote exists so public issues can be opened up in Parliament," he told the TASR newswire, adding that information in the media about Harabin's connection to organised crime could harm Slovakia's credibility.

Harabin, as a Supreme Court judge, was excluded from a case in 1994 that tried an alleged drug trafficker, Bakim Sadiki. The Sme daily wrote at the time that the attorney, Peter Filip, objected to the personal relations between the present justice minister and Sadiki. Later it was revealed that it was Harabin himself who had raised the objection because he knew Sadiki's wife, who is Slovak.

On July 10, the daily published a dialogue between Harabin and Sadiki, which took place on September 17, 1994, in which they addressed each other informally. Personal relations between Harabin and the Kosovan-Albanian Sadiki were also pointed to in Parliament by Lipšic. Both Harabin and Sadiki have rejected the notion. TASR

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

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