SUPREME Court President Štefan Harabin did not commit a crime when he refused to permit auditors from the Finance Ministry to examine the accounts of the court, Jana Tokolyová, the spokeswoman for the General Prosecutor’s office, informed the SITA newswire.
Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik supported the stance of the police officer who decided on October 20 to advance the matter to the Justice Minister, who should now submit a proposal to the Constitutional Court for opening disciplinary proceedings in the matter.
The General Prosecutor’s office had also already turned aside a criminal motion which the Supreme Court filed against Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš. Harabin complained then that the speed at which the prosecutor’s office dismissed the criminal motion against Mikloš was striking and that no evidence had been collected.
The Finance Ministry has made repeated attempts to audit the accounts of the Supreme Court since August 2010. The last attempt took place on October 25.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to let ministry personnel conduct an audit; as a result, the Finance Ministry has levied a fine on both the court and its president. Both sides have filed lawsuits against each other.
Both the president of Slovakia’s Constitutional Court, Ivetta Macejková, and Slovakia’s ombudsman, Pavel Kandráč, have stated that a Finance Ministry audit of spending at the Supreme Court is a normal procedure, SITA wrote, noting that in the past the Supreme Court’s accounts were audited by the ministry without any argument.
