Vladimír Pčolinský (source: SITA)
Either Slovakia has a serious problem or the whole thing is a storm in a glass of water, the intelligence service chief said about the June 9 police raid at the National Agency for Network and Electronic Services (NASES), which ended with the arrests of four people so far.
Slovak Information Service (SIS) Director Vladimír Pčolinský specified the latter option would mean the whole wiretapping process was officially approved.
The National Criminal Agency raid at NASES is reportedly linked to the alleged wiretapping and monitoring of the state computer network, Govnet. The police have detained "some devices", Pčolinský said, but failed to specify, as reported by the TASR newswire. Neither the experts nor the police have been able to tell what the devices were supposed to be used for, the SIS head admitted.
Govnet is a secured network that the state uses to facilitate the electronic communication of state bodies, like ministries, the Office of the President, but also the prosecutors and courts. It also serves the central public administration website where citizens communicate with state authorities, Slovensko.sk.
The devices were reportedly installed at the governmental building before the current, Igor Matovič cabinet took over, and before Pčolinský was appointed SIS head. Denník N pointed out that it might have been at the time when either Richard Raši or Peter Pellegrini (both Smer) before him served as deputy prime minister under whose watch NASES falls. The post is now held by Veronika Remišová of Za Ľudí.
