THE JUDICIAL Council has indefinitely postponed the election of the Supreme Court President planned for September 30. Its stated reason for doing so was that it had not received a report from a representative of the Supreme Audit Office on how the Supreme Court spent Sk17 million (€564,297) allocated to it in 2007, the SITA newswire wrote.
The election will take place only after the Judicial Council receives and familiarises itself with the report. Its spokesman, Juraj Sopoliga, said this could weeks or months.
The incumbent president of the Supreme Court, Milan Karabín, who is the only candidate to run for the post, described the Judicial Council’s procedure as unlawful and as having an ulterior motive. He said that he believes the decision is intended to cast doubts on his candidature. He refused to rule out the involvement of Justice Minister Štefan Harabin in the decision.
Karabín’s five-year mandate ends on October 7. If the new election does not take place by then, he will automatically be replaced by the incumbent Supreme Court Vice President, Daniela Švecová.
