New Police Inspectorate Director Branislav Zurian. (source: TASR)
In a bombastic way - with sirens and cars - the police blocked a car that top Police Inspectorate official Ladislav Kotek was driving on Monday morning to get to work in Bratislava from a town near Malacky, western Slovakia.
Kotek’s wife and son witnessed the whole incident, wrote the Denník N daily. It happened shortly after he left his home.
The car belongs to the Interior Ministry, under which the Police Inspectorate falls. Pavol Ďurka, who was removed as head of the Police Inspectorate’s anti-corruption unit, last Friday allowed Kotek, his deputy, to use the car. However, Diana Santusová replaced Ďurka on Monday.
Santusová, who will oversee the investigations of police officers suspected of corruption and other serious crimes, headed a notorious Police Inspectorate team called Oblúk. In 2021, this team unlawfully wiretapped and began to prosecute a group of police (NAKA) investigators, grouped around Ján Čurilla, which were investigating corruption suspicions leading to the previous Smer-led governments. The Oblúk team claimed that the investigators were manipulating ongoing investigations.
These investigators, who also wanted to investigate the Oblúk team, remain charged to date although the court described their prosecution as groundless.
Kotek did not comment on the operation carried out by the Police Inspectorate against him. It was lawyer Peter Kubina who represents the group of prosecuted investigators, including Ján Čurilla and Pavol Ďurka, who drew attention to the incident.
Lawyer Peter Kubina. (source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)
