TWO OFFICIALS who worked at the Interior Ministry when it was run by Daniel Lipšic (2010-12) have been charged with not fulfilling their duties when administering public property vis-à-vis a case involving the procurement of a new wiretapping system for the police. This information was published by investigative journalist Júlia Mikolášiková on her blog on September 2.
Lipšic considers the charges to be another attack on him and people close to him by financial groups.
“The investigator has accused both individuals of committing an extremely grave crime involving their failure to fulfil their duties when administering somebody else’s property as accomplices,” Mikolášiková wrote, as quoted by the TASR newswire, citing an unnamed source affiliated with the attorneys of the accused.
The two officials are Milan Krajniak and Marcel Klimek. The case pertains to a transaction involving a new wiretapping system mediated by a firm called Orga-Trade. The overall damages reached €8.756 million, TASR wrote.
Krajniak formerly served as Lipšic’s advisor on Roma issues. He left the office in January 2012 when his name appeared in the Gorilla file, a document allegedly containing the transcripts of recordings pointing to non-standard relations between businesspeople and politicians. Following the founding of Lišpic’s NOVA party in the summer of 2012, Krajniak joined the group, but left in June 2014.
Klimek, who currently serves as NOVA’s deputy chair, served as the head of staff at the Interior Ministry between 2010-12.
Lipšic told the press on September 2 that the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the police are acting under the orders of Jaroslav Haščák from the Penta financial group. He added that investigative journalist Tom Nicholson warned him that he will always be Haščák’s number one enemy.
As the interior minister, Lipšic decided to buy a new wiretapping system, and the ministry approached eight producers of such systems, eventually selecting Israeli company Verint Systems. Lipšic visited Israel to meet with representatives of the firm in November 2010. He was accompanied by Krajniak, then Police Corps vice-president Ľubomír Ábel and businessman Miloš Žiak, who currently heads the Israeli Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia.
The contract with Orga-Treade was allegedly signed by Klimek in 2011. Mikolášiková noted that the contract is classified, which means that the public cannot learn the price of the system, which to date is not functioning, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
