The Slovak Supreme Court has filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the General Prosecutor in connection with the Finance Ministry’s attempt to carry out what the court views as an unlawful audit, the TASR newswire learnt on Tuesday, August 10.
Chief Justice Štefan Harabin has been refusing to allow Finance Ministry officials to audit the Supreme Court’s accounts for nearly two weeks, arguing in writing to the ministry that the only body with the power to audit the Supreme Court is the Supreme Audit Office (NKU). Four attempts to carry out audits have been thwarted to date. Meanwhile, the ministry has handed out fines of €33,000 to the Supreme Court and €1,000 to Harabin himself for blocking the audits. Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš said that checking on public spending is within the purview of his ministry, and not even the Supreme Court can choose whether the Supreme Audit Office or the Finance Ministry should carry out audits. The ministry conducted similar audits at the Supreme Court in 2007 and 2009.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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