Štefan Harabin, the President of Slovakia’s Supreme Court, did not commit a crime when he did not permit auditors from the Finance Ministry to examine the use of public funds at the court, the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General Jana Tokolyová informed the SITA newswire.
The spokeswoman said that Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik supported the stance of the police officer who decided on October 20 to advance the matter to the Justice Minister who should submit a proposal to the Constitutional Court for opening disciplinary proceedings in the matter.
The General Prosecutor’s Office has already turned aside a criminal motion which the Supreme Court filed against the Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš. Harabin complained then that the speed at which the office dismissed the criminal motion against Mikloš even without collecting any evidence was striking.
Harabin insists that Mikloš violated legal rules. The Finance Ministry has been trying to audit the use of public funds at the Supreme Court repeatedly since August 2010. The last attempt took place on Monday, October 25. The Supreme Court has not permitted the audit which led to it being fined by the Finance Ministry. Both sides are mutually suing each other.
Both Constitutional Court President Ivetta Macejková and Slovakia’s ombudsman Pavel Kandráč consider a Finance Ministry audit of spending at the Supreme Court to be a standard procedure. In the past, the Finance Ministry inspected the Supreme Court without any problems, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
