The general prosecutor orders check of controversial firm, again

The prosecutor dropped charges against the construction firm Euro-Building, but the general prosecutor disagrees.

General Prosecutor Jaromír ČižnárGeneral Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár (Source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)

The prosecutor has acquitted the construction company Euro-Building of charges it faced due to suspicions of fraud worth millions of euros linked to public orders, the Sme daily reported.

General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár, who initiated the investigation in 2015 but was not involved in the final decision-making process, has ordered a re-investigation of the case.

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Several suppliers and municipalities across Slovakia had complained about Euro-Building and its work, and the case was also discussed by parliament in 2015. The main problem was that it allegedly won several public tenders based on undervalued bids. It then hired external subcontractors via a chain of its affiliated firms but did not pay them. As a result, construction works got stuck, Sme reported.

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The results of the investigation, however, indicate the company has not committed any crime.

“The investigator has dismissed the matter in all assessed cases,” said spokesperson for Bratislava prosecutor’s office, Oliver Janíček, as quoted by Sme.

The police issued the decision already last June, which was confirmed by the prosecutor in July. Two subcontractors submitted a complaint against the decision, but the regional prosecutor’s office dismissed them, saying they were unfounded.

Čižnár gets involved

The case was investigated by ordinary investigators and not the National Criminal Agency which usually deals with the most serious crimes. It was supervised by the General Prosecutor’s Office, however, which means that the office was to receive regular reports about the progress of the investigation.

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The penal section of the General Prosecutor’s Office, led by Peter Šufliarsky, checked the results of the investigation last September, and confirmed the decision to close the case.

Čižnár learned about it only recently, after receiving questions from journalists, Sme wrote.

The daily became interested in the case after it learned that Euro-Building signed a conciliation agreement with the Interior Ministry in February. It concerns all ongoing disputes between the company and the department, which among other things includes the reconstruction of firefighting stations worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

“He ordered for the matter to be checked again by the investigation department of the General Prosecutor’s Office,” said its spokesperson Andrea Predajňová, as quoted by Sme.

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