FORMER general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka might have to leave the prosecution altogether. As punishment for his role in the Glance House case, a disciplinary commission punished Trnka on November 29 by deciding that he can no longer work as a prosecutor.
“It is the commission's decision. I still say what I have said,” Trnka told the Sme daily.
Trnka has said in the past that he did not violate the law when he enabled the transfer of the apartment house in Bernolákovo, even though the Special Prosecutor’s Office had banned any motions connected with the luxury residential development. He in fact allowed the Glance House to slip into the hands of a firm close to businessman Marián Kočner, with whom Trnka has been known to be on friendly terms.
Trnka, who can still work at the office, has decided to take the commission’s decision to court. When the police first investigated the Glance House case, it failed to charge Trnka after coming to the conclusion that he did not commit a crime when he unlawfully enabled the transfer of the blocked apartment house.
The Trnava Regional Prosecutor’s Office oversaw the investigation, led by Ľubomír Klčo, who was given his post thanks to Trnka. The case was earlier rejected by then head of the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor’s Office Jaroslav Čižnár, who was later elected and appointed as general prosecutor. He refused to take the case, arguing that he felt he would be biased, according to Sme.
Neither new general prosecutor Čižnár nor Prime Minister Robert Fico have commented on Trnka’s punishment. Trnka began working as a prosecutor directly after he graduated from university, 25 years ago, Sme wrote.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
