THE INTERIOR Ministry has filed a criminal complaint over suspected abuse of power by a public official after personal data from so-called ‘mafia lists’ drawn up by the police were leaked to the media. Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic said the leaked data were confidential, the TASR newswire reported on October 4.
Two separate lists of people allegedly connected to various mafia groups have appeared in the media recently. They contain more than 300 names with pictures and detailed personal data including birth-registry numbers, car licence-plate number and gun-licence numbers, TASR wrote.
National police chief Jaroslav Spišiak denied that he had ordered the lists to be created, the Sme daily reported. In 2005 Spišiak, then deputy police chief, drew up a false list containing the names of alleged mafia members in order to provoke the media into reporting about organised criminal activity, Sme reported. He also announced that the current lists contained the names of people who are not criminals but are linked in some other way with criminal cases.
Spišiak said he believed that the lists had been stolen from the Office for the Fight against Organised Crime, a unit in the national police force.
“We are heading towards the identification of the people responsible for this leak of information,” he said, as quoted by Sme.
