Businessman and former Smer MP Bohumil Hanzel, who recently went public with allegations of shady financing practices in the past by the now-governing Smer party, on May 25 filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor's Office relating to a death threat which he says he has received by e-mail.
Hanzel said he was confident that the threat came because of his revelations concerning party sponsors, as the e-mail (received on May 19) mentioned the subject. The businessman, whose business career blossomed while living as an émigré in Sweden, said he had no idea who could be the sender of the email. He claimed that he was not aware of having any apparent enemies. According to Hanzel, the e-mail warned him that he'd better "shut up", or he may well "go down the drink". The author of the e-mail also wrote that Hanzel's business success was only based on his Smer party membership. Hanzel called the statement nonsense, pointing out that he has been in business for 20 years, while Smer has only existed for 10 years.
"I have to take the threat seriously, because my wife is nervous, and my kids keep calling me from Sweden, asking me if I think I'm in danger," said Hanzel, who added that he regrets nothing he said in relation to the alleged secret party donations. "Everything I said is true," he told the TASR newswire.
Hanzel, 61, who parted ways with the party in 2006, told the Sme daily last week that he has seen a notary-authenticated copy of an agreement between Smer and five sponsors concerning specified places on the Smer parliamentary candidates list. He also said that he personally attended many meetings with sponsors who provided some Sk60 million (€1.99 million) to the party in 2000-02.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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