BRATISLAVA, January 31, (WEBNOVINY) — Organizers of the Gorilla graft scandal protest march call on Prime Minister Iveta Radicova to immediately dismiss Mikulas Dzurinda from the post of a foreign affairs minister, Ivan Miklos from the post of a finance minister and Rudolf Chmel from the post of a deputy prime minister. Demonstration’s organizer Lucia Gallova opines that Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Bela Bugar and SMER-SD head Robert Fico should also leave their posts. Gallova announced at the press meeting on Tuesday that Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik should dismiss all people under his jurisdiction who are linked with the financial group Penta. “We appeal to political parties to draw responsibility,“ added Gallova.
Organizers of the protest action view undergoing lie detector test as the only way for the ministers to be able to remain in their offices. Organizers have repeatedly asked for postponement of early parliamentary elections from March to September. The next Gorilla protest will take place in Bratislava on February 3. Almost 20,000 people have confirmed their participation in the demonstration on the website of the social network Facebook to date. Organizers have also declared that if elections are not rescheduled for September, they will organize a huge national protest in Bratislava on March 9.
Leaked intelligence service file code-named Gorilla documents alleged influence on Slovak politics by the Penta financial group. The material released on the Internet before Christmas describes appointments of political nominees in state-run companies, kickbacks for privatization and the web of relations between politicians, tycoons and security services in the period 2005-2006. Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic created a specialized team that investigates the case. On January 9, the investigator started criminal prosecution for the crime of establishing, preparing and supporting a criminal gang while the persons are mainly suspected of crimes of corruption and abuse of powers of a public official. The criminal prosecution is supervised by the Special Prosecution Office.
SITA