BRATISLAVA, January 5, (WEBNOVINY) — Special prosecutor Jan Santa has halted investigation in the ten-years-old case of the ruling SDKU’s suspicious funding. He made the decision since the party properly documented how it acquired and paid back the loan. It documented it in its bookkeeping, annual reports to parliament and also in relation to the central bank. Moreover, auditors checked accounting activity as well. Evidence of this is contained in a 15,000-page file comprising mainly proof in documentary form and testimonies of all persons involved in the matter,” reads the stance provided to SITA news agency by spokeswoman of the Prosecutor General Office Svetlana Mockova.
Moreover, no proof exists that would reveal any irregularities in sale of the Bratislava-based Hotel Forum. The prosecutor said that the total sum for the hotel at SKK 425 million (EUR 14.11 million), which was the price set by an appraiser was property paid by the buyer in several installments while it is properly documented in accounting. Santa said that it was not proven that representatives of SDKU gained some commissions from this privatization which would be a subject of legalization of illegal income, as former Prime Minister Robert Fico has indicated.
SMER-SD leader Robert Fico came up with the case before last year’s parliamentary elections when he informed the public that the SDKU laundered millions through bank accounts of fictitious firms with links to tax havens, which it earned in privatization. Fico however did not present any clear evidence. He only pointed at fictitious companies among which was the firm Involve, the owner of the SDKU logo whose authorized representative was the SDKU treasurer Igor Kucej. Spokesman for SDKU-DS responded by saying that the SDKU-DS has never been involved in money laundering and that it was a pre-election fight and efforts to damage the party’s reputation before the race.
SMER-SD says in its response to the prosecutor’s decision in the case of the SDKU funding that it has its own opinion about it but it does not want to comment on the move while it respects it. „We are curious when Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic will call a news conference to feverishly demand reasoning and publishing of this decision as he did it in the case of the opposition SMER-SD“, added spokeswoman of the party Silvia Glendova. Just recently, special prosecutor Dusan Kovacik halted investigation of the SMER-SD funding. The investigation started based on the SME daily published audio recording showing that secret donors probably poured at least 75 million Slovak crowns into the SMER-SD party several years ago, bypassing the official accounts. The recording surfaced shortly before June elections.
SITA