Marian Kočner and his lawyer Marek Para in court. (source: Sme)
“When I learned about the promissory notes in November 2016, I ordered all the documents to be checked. We have found nothing,” TV Markíza director Matthias Settele said on September 10 in court.
When will the trial continue?
Oct 17, Oct 28
Nov 4-6, Nov 18-20
Dec 2-4
He was one of the three witnesses who were heard on September 10, the second day of the September phase of the trial. Before him, his predecessor in the post, Zuzana Ťapáková, testified in front of the court. In the afternoon, Peter Tóth, a former friend of Kočner's whose hearing took place without the public present in the courtroom, answered lawyers' and Kočner's questions.
Kočner, who is the defendant in the case together with Pavol Rusko, the co-founder of Markíza, was present on both days of the trial in September. He was transported to Bratislava for this purpose, under strict security measures. Rusko has been absent; he attended the sessions that took place in Pezinok in July.
Settele: Notes are fake
After they had found that there was no evidence whatsoever in their accounting that would suggest the mistake was on their part, they decided to stand up against Kočner’s claims in court, Settele said in his answers to the questions during the trial.
“To the best of our knowledge, the promissory notes are fake,” he said.
Settele said he never attempted to resolve the problem in person with Rusko or Kočner. He said he never met Kočner.
