Štefan Harabin (source: SME)
The documents make it apparent that he at the time had indeed ordered extraordinary bonuses totalling €113,000 to be paid on his behalf. By denying that the payments were salary bonuses on July 19, Harabin lied and therefore he should not be entitled to carry out any public post, stated the Court leadership. Harabin currently serves as a Supreme Court judge.
“Štefan Harabin is lying and deceiving by claiming that the amount of €113,000 represents an additional payment due to judges who decide on appeals against verdicts of the Specialised Criminal Court,” the TASR newswire quoted a press release of the Supreme Court.
Harabin’s ordinary salary for (not even a full) seven months of 2009 added up to €74,591, while the extraordinary salary bonus amounted to €40,000. One year later, Harabin earned €139,152; plus he received two bonuses totalling €73,000. According to the Supreme Court, Harabin’s generous bonuses were paid while the “ordinary staff were struggling with a lack of fundamental work tools”.
Nonetheless, Harabin claims that the extra payments for 2009 and 2010 were in line with valid rules allowing a premium to equal six times of the average salary in the country. According to him, this figure was reduced only later, following a ruling of the Constitutional Court.
Apart from that, similar extra payments were received by 20 judges of the Supreme Court and 16 judges of the Specialised Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010, Harabin added, as quoted by TASR.
However, the Sme daily pointed out that the law on limiting salaries of special judges entered into force as early as May 20, 2009, while Harabin was elected Supreme Court chairman one month later.
