Slovakia’s PM slams judge over conviction of central bank boss

The Slovak leader has repeatedly accused judges and prosecutors who probe his allies of political bias.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has criticised a judge who convicted the governor of the country’s central bank in a corruption case.

Reacting to the conviction of Petr Kazimir, his former finance minister, the combative premier suggested on Friday that the verdict was politically motivated, and that Specialised Criminal Court judge Milan Cisarik should be investigated for criminal acts.

Since returning to power in 2023, Fico has torn down police and prosecutor units set up to investigate corruption during his previous years in power between 2012 – 2020.

Kazimir was found guilty and fined 200,000 euros ($226,500) on Thursday for bribing a tax official during his tenure as finance minister in Fico’s previous government. Claiming that the longstanding charges were fabricated, he denied any wrongdoing and said that he plans to appeal.

The bribery charges against Peter Kazimir stem from his time serving as finance minister under Fico’s previous government [File: Bloomberg]

“The judge’s decision raises the question whether it should have served political aims of the opposition to damage the ruling parties, because even a law faculty student must see fatal nonsense in the verdict,” the Slovak leader said on Thursday.

“I cannot shake off the feeling that it is justified to look at potential suspicion that the judge committed multiple criminal acts and at what the ruling was supposed to serve.”

The court did not respond to Fico’s remarks. The For Open Justice (ZOJ) NGO warned: “Questioning a specific judgment through public statements by members of the government can also be perceived as indirect political pressure on the judiciary.”

Revenge

Fico fell from power in 2020 amid the scandal over the 2018 assassination of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak. The new government set up special units to investigate a suspected network of corruption around the former PM and his inner circle.

Fico routinely complained that the measures were politically motivated. On returning to power in late 2023, he immediately began tearing up the units and amended the criminal code to lower punishments for corruption.

Critics have accused him of becoming obsessed with exacting revenge on those involved in probes against his circle.

Kazimir, was the first of Fico’s former ministers to stand trial when he first faced the court in April 2023 accused of paying a bribe of 48,000 euros ($54,360) in 2017-18 to the chief of the country’s tax office, in connection with an audit of a number of private companies.

His term at the head of the National Bank of Slovakia ends on June 1, but he will stay on until a replacement is appointed.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies