The Office of the General Prosecutor has dismissed a complaint submitted by Milan Ftáčnik, the mayor of Bratislava, regarding the decision to halt the criminal prosecution of his predecessor as mayor, Andrej Ďurkovský, in the case of the demolition of PKO cultural venue, the SITA newswire reported on February 25.
“The complaint was dismissed on February 14 as unfounded,” said Vladimíra Gedrová, spokesperson for the Office of the General Prosecutor, as quoted by SITA.
The criminal prosecution of Ďurkovský was halted on November 12, 2012.
The current municipal leadership in Bratislava has stated that the former mayor signed a bill of sale and subsequently an agreement over cooperation on demolition of PKO, despite these not being within his competence. It argues that such steps were also at odds with a mandate Ďurkovský received from the local city council in 2005. The council agreed to the sale of the land on which PKO stood without specifically consenting to the venue’s possible demolition.
“If the buildings of PKO in the ownership of the municipality were removed, the city would lose at least €4.3 million, according to an assessor,” Ftáčnik’s spokesperson Ľubomír Andrassy said, as quoted by SITA.
Ďurkovský signed an agreement to demolish PKO with an investor, Henbury Development, in June 2006. At the same time, Ďurkovský promised to submit a request to start demolition of the existing building to the local construction office. A police investigator claimed that Ďurkovský agreed the demolition of PKO without the consent of Bratislava councillors, despite being obliged to have such consent according to a regulation passed in June 2005.
By the time the charges were brought, Ďurkovský had been elected to parliament as an MP for the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and was protected by parliamentary immunity. Police sought parliament’s permission to prosecute him, but MPs refused. Ďurkovský was finally charged in April 2012, after leaving parliament.
Source: SITA
For more information about this story please see: a href=" http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/47421/10/general_prosecutors_office_moves_to_drop_charges_against_durkovsky.html" > General Prosecutor's Office moves to drop charges against Ďurkovský
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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