Shortly before his departure from the post of interior minister, Robert Kalinák gave away €400 bonuses to tens of thousands of employees of the Interior Ministry. This generous goodbye action cost state coffers €15 million, the Denník N reported. Police officers, firefighters and others will receive the bonus in addition to their salary for April.
“At the Interior Ministry, performance benefits are usually paid two times per year based on the decision of the minister,” the ministry’s press department informed the Korzár daily. “Robert Kaliňák decided to grant benefits of €400 for almost 40,000 employees meeting the requirements set by law.”
Kaliňák did not inform about the bonuses and even the new Interior Minister, Tomáš Drucker, was not aware of them.
Kaliňák, the long-term minister and close ally of Smer party leader Robert Fico, resigned from his post in March following the political turmoil the double murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his partner caused.

In 2017 the ministry spent a total of €25 million on all benefits.
While in the past the amount of the benefit depended on several aspects and evaluation by superiors, this time each ministry employee received the same sum.
13. Apr 2018 at 6:01 | Compiled by Spectator staff