Ľubomír Skuhra, as portrayed in 2013. (source: TASR - Gabriel Kuchta )
The National Crime Agency detained several persons suspected of manipulating public procurement in Military Intelligence on Tuesday.
The crimes relate to the purchases of overpriced defence technologies that took place between 2013 and 2020. According to Police President Štefan Hamran, the damage exceeded €74 million.
The police charged 16 people and two companies during the ‘Virus’ police operation. They are prosecuted at large.
Aktuality.sk, a news website, broke the story.
Martin Kohút, as pictured in 2017. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Former top military intelligence chiefs charged
Former head of Military Intelligence Ján Balciar, entrepreneur Michal Gučík, former director of Military Defence Intelligence, Ľubomír Skuhra, former top Military Defence Intelligence official Daniel Jackuliak, and ex-president of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association, Martin Kohút, are among the charged.
Gučík is a friend of General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka. However, according to Žilinka’s statement, he has not been in contact with Gučík for the past three years. Gučík also knows several high-profile politicians, including Slovak National Party leader Andrej Danko and Smer leader Robert Fico.
Balciar is notorious for his extensive property, including land and 15 apartments in the Low Tatras mountain range. Balciar became the head of Military Intelligence in 2016. The merger of the Military Intelligence Service (VSS) and the Military Defence Intelligence Service (VOS) took place in 2013.
The police charged them with breach of duty in managing someone else’s property and legalising proceeds from criminal activity.
Michal Gučík, as pictured in 2011. (source: SME - Tomáš Benedikovič)
How the scheme allegedly worked
Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, Ondrej Repa, explained that the criminal activity was carried out through speculatively created Slovak firms, which were supposed to buy unspecified technologies abroad for Military Intelligence. Information on the purchases was classified. These Slovak companies were paid almost double what foreign suppliers should have been paid. These funds were supposed to have gradually passed from these Slovak companies to several individuals, for example Gučík or Kohút.
Police conducted six house searches during the operation. They secured over €320,000 in cash, several flats, gold, and a limited edition of Scotch whiskey worth €26,000. Also, they seized more than €11 million held in bank accounts.
The case file comprises eight volumes and 2,700 pages. The appendices have 11 volumes, the police added.
The police began to work on the case last August.
Fico questions the police
On Tuesday, Smer leader Robert Fico questioned the police operation, calling it an attack on the opposition shortly before the election.
“We have another political party here - the National Crime Agency and the Special Prosecutor's Office,” Fico told the public broadcaster RTVS. He is former three-time prime minister.
When the alleged embezzlement is said to have taken place, in the years 2013-2020, Smer was in power.
President Zuzana Čaputová said that charges concern crimes committed in the past and by former members of Military Intelligence.
“I see no reason to think that Slovakia’s security or reputation is at risk,” she said.
