The parliamentary committee for supervising the activities of the National Security Office (NBÚ) did not pass a resolution on April 28 demanding that NBÚ chairman František Blanárik should undergo a new security screening, committee chairman Anton Korba (Slovak National Party) announced the same day.
The committee held a vote on Blanárik after recent media reports stated that he had co-operated with the communist-era military counter-intelligence service, the TASR newswire wrote. The NBÚ is itself responsible for granting security clearance to Slovak officials.
Four governing-coalition MPs voted against the resolution, and four opposition lawmakers were in favour of it, while one MP from the governing Smer party abstained, said Korba. According to Korba, it has not been proved that Blanárik was active as a counter-intelligence agent or that he caused harm to anyone in the past.
Blanárik himself has insisted that he never voluntarily co-operated with the communist secret-service and that he never denounced his colleagues. Opposition MP Pavol Frešo (SDKÚ), expressed dissatisfaction at the outcome of the committee’s vote and announced that the opposition would raise the issue during a full session of parliament. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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