NBS governor Peter Kažimír (source: TASR)
Peter Kažimír, governor of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country's central bank, and former finance minister under the Smer governments, has been charged with bribery.
The Special Prosecutor's Office has pressed charges against Kažimír, several independent sources confirmed to the Aktuality.sk website.
The charges are reportedly linked to a bribe connected to the former head of the Financial Administration, František Imrecze.
Imrecze was arrested in late January 2021 during the Mýtnik (Toll Collector) police operation. In July, he confessed and has since cooperated with the police.
In his testimony, Imrecze reportedly said Kažimír as a minister received a bribe of €150,000 to secure political support for the purchase of the e-Kasa IT system.
Kažimír’s attorney Ondrej Mularčík meanwhile confirms that the NBS governor has been changed.
Kažimír insists that he is innocent.
“I have no information and I am not aware of breaching the law, and I have never had any interest in impacting any proceedings,” he stressed, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that the facts provided in the decision are untrue and the explanation lacks evidence.
Kažimír testified at the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) in late August. He later told journalists that he felt bad about suspicions on the failures of some people, which damage the perception of his and other people’s work.
“We aren’t at the end, but only in the middle of the investigation,” he said back in August, as quoted by the Sme daily.
