Smer co-founder and former MP Bohumil Hanzel on June 1 told the TASR newswire that he had handed in an envelope with evidence concerning the Smer party funding affair to the Swedish embassy in Bratislava.
Hanzel declined to say what exactly was in the envelope, however. The sme.sk website on Tuesday reported that Hanzel has submitted the materials to Swedish Ambassador Mikael Westerlind, who has been asked to deliver them to the Prosecutor-General's Office and European institutions if "something happens" to Hanzel. Hanzel also said that a campaign to discredit him is currently being prepared, and that material that is due to be released within a few days by Smer is currently being falsified, with the name of current premier and Smer head Robert Fico removed.
Hanzel (who enjoyed considerable entrepreneurial success as an emigrant to Sweden in the 1980s) recently alleged that he saw a validated copy of a contract between Smer and five sponsors that concerned specific places on its 2002 party election slate. He asserted that he was personally present at meetings with Smer sponsors who provided around Sk60 million (€2 million) to the party between 2000 and 2002. Fico himself also tried to attract sponsors, said Hanzel, who left Smer in 2006.
Fico has flatly rejected Hanzel's claims, describing them as libel and fables. Fico also claimed that Hanzel is close to parliamentary vice-chair Milan Hort (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, SDKÚ), and that his accusations are simply electioneering on behalf of the opposition.
Sources: TASR. Sme.sk
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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