The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has been asked by the Ordinary People (OĽ) party to deal with a case involving documents allegedly created by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency under the codename Gorilla that hint at high-profile corruption during the second government of Mikuláš Dzurinda in 2005 and 2006.
The Gorilla material appeared on the internet shortly before Christmas, the SITA newswire wrote on Thursday, January 5. OĽ has now directly addressed OLAF head Giovanni Kessler, who has the power to start and close OLAF inquiries. OĽ lawyer Miroslav Kadúc pointed out that no institution is entitled to issue orders to OLAF, which would guarantee an independent investigation. Slovak authorities would not participate in it either, he added. In their request, OĽ informed Kessler of the background of the case, which it says might have meant that Slovakia and the European Union lost tens or even hundreds of millions of euros.
"As the Slovak Republic is involved in EU budget revenues, the cited facts imply that [there was an] impact on the EU budget," the party wrote.
The documents purport to describe the alleged influence of the Penta financial group on Slovakia's politics, SITA wrote. The extensive material describes the appointment of political nominees in state-run companies, kickbacks for privatisations and a web of relationships between politicians, tycoons and security agencies. The authenticity of the documents has not been confirmed, and several people named in the files have questioned their authenticity.
For more information on this story, please see: Sme writes that SaS party saw the Gorilla file two years ago.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
