Constitutional Court dismisses anti-corruption officers’ complaints over controversial recordings

Slovakia’s Constitutional Court has rejected complaints from a group of National Crime Agency (NAKA) officers linked to Ján Čurilla, who were investigating corruption cases involving former governments led by the Smer party and Prime Minister Robert Fico. The officers had challenged the legality of secret recordings made in their offices without their knowledge, which have been used as evidence in charges against them for alleged abuse of power.

In July of this year, news emerged that the Trnava regional prosecutor had filed charges against the police officers. However, back in 2021, the Bratislava Regional Court had already ruled that the criminal prosecution initiated by the Interior Ministry’s police inspectorate—led by Matúš Šutaj Eštok, head of one ruling party—was unfounded.

The court’s decision was made by a panel presided over by Robert Šorl, along with judges Peter Straka and Martin Vernarský, according to the daily Sme. Peter Kubina, a lawyer representing the officers, expressed disappointment in the ruling, following a May decision from the Constitutional Court’s plenum. That decision stated that the legality of wiretaps should be addressed in the trial itself, leaving the matter to the court presiding over the case against the officers.

“The latest ruling reflects the panel’s response to the plenum’s position from May,” Kubina wrote on social media, although he argued that the court’s approach was procedurally incorrect.

Discrepancies

Kubina also criticised the Constitutional Court for the lengthy delay in deciding on the officers’ complaints, adding that if the court had ruled in their favour, it could have expedited the criminal proceedings by rendering the wiretap evidence inadmissible.

The wiretaps are crucial evidence in the case against the officers, but questions remain about their origin. Kubina contends that the judge who authorised the recordings did so without sufficient cause, and he highlighted discrepancies between the recordings and the transcripts prepared by the police inspectorate. In one instance, a recorded conversation included the term “verify” (pooverovať) but the transcript misleadingly quoted it as “fix” (poopravovať), altering the context of the officers’ discussions.

Problem with judge

The trial, which will be heard by the Bratislava I District Court, will be overseen by Judge Juraj Kapinaj—the same judge who ordered the officers (Ján Čurilla, Pavol Ďurka, Branislav Dunčko, Milan Sabota, Štefan Mašin and Peter Scholtz) into custody in 2021, a decision later overturned by the Bratislava Regional Court. Kubina has raised concerns about Kapinaj’s impartiality in the case.

Prime Minister Fico has frequently referenced the wiretaps in press conferences, selectively quoting them in what critics describe as an effort to discredit the investigators and distort the facts.