The organisers of last week's so-called Gorilla protest are calling on Prime Minister Iveta Radičová (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ)) to immediately dismiss Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš (SDKÚ), Foreign Affairs Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda (SDKÚ) and Deputy Prime Minister Rudolf Chmel (Most-Híd), protest organiser Lucia Gallová said at a press conference on Tuesday, January 31.
Gallová also said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, that Economy Minister Juraj Miškov (Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)), Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik (Christian Democratic Movement (KDH)), Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrušovský and Deputy Speakers Béla Bugár (Most-Híd) and Robert Fico (Smer) should also resign over alleged links to the Penta financial group. The organisers also presented a demand to postpone the upcoming general election until September 2012.
"We request a meeting with President Ivan Gašparovič with the purpose of setting a new election date and extending Premier Iveta Radičová's tenure," Gallová said. Moreover, the protest organisers are demanding that by February 10 the oath of secrecy be lifted from SIS intelligence agency members who were involved in Gorilla case, as well as from former SIS head Jozef Magál. Several public officials and businesspeople including Roman Bubeník and Anna Bubeníková, former economy minister Jirko Malchárek and Jaroslav Haščák from Penta, should, according to protest organisers, be prevented from accessing or managing state property.
An estimated 2,000 people joined the so-called Gorilla protest in Bratislava on Friday, January 27, in response to allegations of high-level political corruption in 2005-6 apparently revealed by the Gorilla file leaked in December. Even though the authenticity of the documents leaked on the case have not been confirmed, Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic (KDH) recently announced that an operation with such a name was indeed conducted by the SIS. After descriptions of apparently corrupt behaviour were made public, the government dismissed the head of the executive board of the National Property Fund (FNM) Anna Bubeníková, who is now reported to have left the country.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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