Good evening. Here is the Monday, August 7 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
Controversial Section 363 to Kaliňák's rescue
Former interior minister Robert Kaliňák. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
The bribery charges against former interior minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) have been dismissed.
Deputy General Prosecutor Jozef Sedlák granted Kaliňák's request to apply the controversial Section 363 of the criminal code that allows the Office to scrap the charges. However, the deputy did not comply with the same proposal of another accused person - Smer's alleged patron Jozef Brhel.
The charges concern the František Imrecze case. In 2012 Imrecze was appointed head of the Financial Administration, Slovakia’s tax authority, when Smer was in power. Kaliňák reportedly told Imrecze to ask Brhel to pay him extra money to match his previous salary. Before being appointed, Imrecze worked in the private sector, where he is said to have earned €280,000 a year. In return, Imrecze helped a firm co-owned by Brhel win contracts with the tax authority. Imrecze reportedly got the job at the Financial Administration thanks to his wife, who knew Kaliňák’s wife.
"Serious errors were discovered that could not be corrected in any other way, and which justified the dismissing the decision in the preliminary proceedings regarding Robert Kaliňák," said the Office spokesperson Jana Tökölyová.
Kaliňák faced criminal charges in another case in 2022. The General Prosecutor's Office then applied Section 363 and scrapped those charges.
Special Prosecutor's Office's reaction: The Office does not understand on what grounds Sedlák cancelled the charges against Kaliňák from the beginning of 2023. The case file was delivered to the Supreme Court in June. The court, just like the Specialised Criminal Court before, subsequently dismissed the charges filed. According to the Office, judges need the file to explain their decision in writing. Sedlák thus decided on the charges without seeing the case file, or he might have gone to the court to read the file, the Office noted. Regardless, it added that both approaches could therefore be considered a novelty.
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FEATURE STORY FOR MONDAY
Trail blazing marks 150 years in Slovakia
The trail to Popradské Pleso mountain lake. (source: TASR)
Iconic places in Slovakia such as Kriváň Peak in the High Tatras, the Tomášovský Viewpoint above the unforgettable Slovak Paradise full of wonderful ravines, or unique mills on the path between the beautiful valleys of Prosiecka and Kvačianska Dolina valleys, and many others, are accessible thanks to hiking markers.
It has been 150 years since the first trail was marked in Slovakia. Over that time, the country has developed one of the densest and most comprehensive networks of hiking trails in Europe, boasting almost 15,000 kilometres in total.
CONCERT FOR THE WEEK
A DJ set in the ruins of a historic castle
On Friday, a young electronic music producer under the name Bulp will perform in historic Devín Castle when the sun starts to set. For more information and tickets, click here (in Slovak).
Admission €8.
In other news
More than 53,000 people have applied to vote by mail from abroad , says the Slovak Interior Ministry, stressing that the deadline will expire on Wednesday, August 9. Applications can be filed in electronic or paper form. For more information, click here (in Slovak). The With Your Heart at Home campaign is attempting to convince Slovaks abroad that they should vote in the September elections.
Over the weekend, emergencies were declared in 35 towns and villages across Slovakia in connection with floods, with third-degree emergencies still in place for 15 of them. The highest number of towns and villages to declare emergencies was in the districts of Rožňava and Revúca, south Slovakia. They were hit by heavy torrential rain, causing rivers and streams to overflow and spill over to the roads, basements, the ground floors of houses.
The Mubea Group will invest €60 million in Slovakia. The group will produce parts for electric and hybrid cars. The investment includes the construction of a new plant in eastern Slovakia. Production is scheduled to begin this year. The company will create 105 jobs. In 2018, the group built a plant to produce automotive parts in eastern Slovakia.
In 2022, each Slovak drank an average of 59.1 litres of beer, or 118 pints.The most beer was drunk in Slovakia in 1994, when each Slovak consumed an average of 93.4 litres of beer. However, Slovaks are discovering new beer styles.
In a telegram sent to Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou thanked Slovakia for its help in extinguishing the severe wild fires that ravaged the country in recent weeks. Slovakia sent a team of firefighters and equipment.
Currently, almost all of Slovakia is without risk of drought, reports the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute on social media. According to the institute, the situation has improved compared to last week and normal to moderately humid conditions are currently prevailing.
WEATHER FOR TUESDAY:
Cloud cover will change. Occasionally, especially in north and east Slovakia, showers are expected, or snow on the Tatras ridges. Daily temperatures between 17 °C to 22 °C, or 15 °C in the north. (SHMÚ)
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