The parliament may not discuss the dismissal of Defence Minister Martin Glváč as opposition MP Zsolt Simon withdrew his signature from a proposal to summon a special session. The proposal was initiated by former defence minister Ľubomír Galko in connection to the alleged tunnelling of the Military Intelligence Service (VSS) during the rule of first Robert Fico government (2006-10), the TASR newswire reported.
Simon was the only deputy of the People’s Platform (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and Most-Híd) who supported the initiative.
“Wasting and non-transparent usage of public money is not typical only for the Defence Ministry, but for the whole government,” Simon told TASR when explaining his decision. He added that he wants to discuss this whole issue in the parliament, not only in connection with one ministry.
Galko, currently an MP for Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), now has 29 signatures. To summon the special session he needs at least 30, TASR wrote. He considers the situation a failure of the whole People’s Platform.
“They do not want to outrage Robert Fico and hope he will take them to coalition after next election,” Galko told TASR, adding that the pressure on Simon should have been very big, and that he is not angry with him.
On May 16, the Sme daily published the first story about suspicions of embezzlement, citing an anonymous 134-page file that was apparently leaked from military intelligence agencies. The file reportedly contains information about alleged fraud related to 15 expensive residential properties in Bratislava as well as cars that reportedly ended up in the personal ownership of VSS officers and their relatives. Both of the previous directors of the two military intelligence agencies – Juraj Šebo of the VSS and Ľubomír Skuhra of the Military Defence Intelligence (VOS) – allegedly knew about these transactions, Sme wrote. The military intelligence services were restructured and merged in January 2013 and the successor agency, Military Intelligence (VS), is now led by Skuhra.
Source: TASR, Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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