THE OFFICE of the General Prosecutor has denied that transcripts of recordings published on the blog of journalist and former editor-in-chief of The Slovak Spectator Tom Nicholson were leaked from the investigation file in the investigation of alleged Bratislava crime boss Libor Jakšík, which is being handled by the office.
In a blog entry published on April 30, Nicholson indicated possible links between Jakšík and Stanislav Jankovič, a former vice-president of the Police Corps. Following publication of Nicholson’s report, Jankovič resigned from his post as advisor to Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák.
“Considering that the transcripts of the recordings published in several media … were related to other people and pertain to a specific crime, the Office of the General Prosecutor in Slovakia forwarded these facts ex officio to the Office for Control and Inspection Service of the Slovak Interior Ministry for investigation,” General Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Jana Tökölyová wrote in an official statement.
According to Nicholson’s blog, the Specialised Criminal Court in Banská Bystrica authorised the interception of Jakšík’s telephone calls in June 2010. One day after the bugging began, the police recorded a conversation with Jankovič in which Jakšík complains about what he calls attacks “from the bodies you are responsible for”, according to the transcripts published by Nicholson. The two men also tried to arrange a meeting.
One of the transcripts published on Nicholson’s blog contained a text message saying “Hi, a friend is now at G.P.” According to the journalist, the abbreviation “G.P.” might stand for “general prosecutor”, who at the time the recordings were made was Dobroslav Trnka. Nicholson also indicated that Trnka was at the time friends with business tycoon Marián Kočner. Tökölyová responded that on June 10, 2010, when the text message was sent, Kočner did not visit the Office of the General Prosecutor to see either Trnka or any other prosecutor or employee of the Office of the General Prosecutor.
“Nicholson was allowed on Friday, May 3, 2013, to see the book of visits at the Office of the General Prosecutor in order to check the veracity of his claims,” Tökölyová said, adding that he had not yet visited the office.
