Although the assistant of the former prime minister Robert Fico, Mária Trošková, did not have security clearance, the National Security Office (NBÚ) does not consider it a problem that she was present at Fico’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is because the agenda of Fico’s meeting with Merkel on April 3, 2017 in Berlin featured no classified information.
The NBÚ’s explanation, however, is at odds with the list of classified information from the Government Office, the Sme daily has pointed out. As many as three points from the list indicate that Trošková did need security clearance during the Berlin visit. The classified information includes the programme of some foreign visits and measures to secure the protection of certain people, objects and foreign delegations.
Thirty days that shook Slovakia Read more On Friday, April 13,The NBÚ had still not answered an additional question by Sme as to whether it would investigate how Trošková, could work at the Government Office without security clearance.
Former employees of the Government Office told Sme one month ago that Trošková did not need to have a security clearance and that this allegedly depends on her exact working position. However, the Government Office has not revealed this in the three years since Trošková took the job.
The head of the NBÚ is Jozef Magala whom Fico called one of his collaborators back in 2006. This was at the time when Magala became the head of the intelligence service, SIS.
Trošková took leave from her post at the Government Office shortly after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his partner.
