The Supreme Court has acquitted Banská Bystrica Regional Court judge Miriam Sninská of corruption-related charges. The Sme daily wrote that the court was ruling on an appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office against a previous acquittal by the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok.
Sninská was accused of helping her partner Viktor Grigel, who was the administrator in charge of servicing and maintaining a block of flats in Banská Bystrica. The prosecutor claimed the judge helped Grigel secure bribes and then legalise the income from them. However, the Supreme Court acquitted the couple of the charges, saying that the case was "illegal" and dismissing the evidence presented as "weak and missing the point", Sme wrote on March 28.
The alleged victim in the case – Jozef Magyar, the director of a firm named Drevokov, from whom Grigel allegedly demanded bribes in 2003 for persuading people to choose his company to provide thermal insulation – expressed dismay at the verdict. "He [Grigel] was caught by the police with marked money. What more proof was needed?" Magyar stated, adding that it would be a mockery of justice if the case were to end in this way.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
