Pavol Gašpar. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Premier Robert Fico (Smer) will nominate Pavol Gašpar, the son of ex-police chief and Smer MP Tibor Gašpar, for the post of director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS), the country’s lead secret service agency.
“I trust him,” said Fico, adding that Pavol Gašpar has a clean criminal record and meets the qualification criteria.
The nomination, which was approved by the government on Wednesday, was a surprise to many. Fico had previously been keen to nominate Tibor Gašpar, despite the fact that the former police chief is facing serious criminal charges.
However, President Zuzana Čaputová has publicly said she would have a problem with appointing someone facing criminal charges to be the next SIS head.
Gašpar’s son is currently state secretary at the Justice Ministry, which submitted an already heavily-criticised amendment to the Penal Code last December. Pavol Gašpar is responsible for criminal policy at the ministry.
Changed several times by Tibor Gašpar himself, the amendment to the Penal Code was adopted last Thursday and should come into force in mid-March. If it does, the former police chief would receive a suspended sentence if eventually convicted on charges of corruption and alleged involvement in organised crime. He is also being investigated in two other cases.
