The hunting lodge in Čifáre, Nitra district, where the then opposition leader Robert Fico met with his associates in summer 2021. (source: SME/Marko Erd)
Christmas Eve brought an unwelcome surprise for Prime Minister and Smer party leader Robert Fico: a YouTube channel featuring 36 videos, all recorded at a hunting lodge in Čifáre, near Nitra, during the summer of 2021. The channel, aptly named “Chata v Čifároch” (Hunting Lodge in Čifáre), has now thrust Fico, a four-time prime minister, into the spotlight for reasons he would rather avoid.
Some of the leaked recordings, originally made by police detective Martin Juhás while investigating poaching, revealed far more than illegal hunting. The footage captured Fico, then an opposition MP, engaged in discussions with influential figures such as oligarch Miroslav Bödör (who passed away in October 2023), prominent lawyer Marek Para, and lawyer Pavol Gašpar, son of Smer-era former police chief Tibor Gašpar (2012-2018).
In the recordings they discuss strategies to sway the prosecution in high-profile criminal cases involving them or their relatives, as well as methods to discredit and incriminate top anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors.
