Slovak police renew bribery cost in opposition to central financial institution governor Kazimir
© Reuters. Slovakia’s Finance Minister Peter Kazimir attends the Asian Monetary Discussion board in Hong Kong, China January 15, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
(Reuters) -Slovak police have resurrected a bribery cost in opposition to Slovak central financial institution Governor and European Central Financial institution policymaker Peter Kazimir, his lawyer stated on Thursday, whereas Kazimir known as the allegation a lie.
Prosecutors had beforehand dropped the cost over the alleged bribe, which dates again to when Kazimir was a finance minister in a previous authorities.
“The (police unit) NAKA charged Mr. Kazimir for principally the identical act as he was indicted for a yr in the past,” Kazimir’s lawyer, Ondrej Mularcik, stated.
“In our opinion, this doesn’t respect the authorized opinion of the prosecutor normal,” he stated. “We are going to file a criticism in opposition to it inside the authorized time restrict. The governor doesn’t really feel responsible, he has not dedicated any felony offence.”
In October 2021, the euro zone nation’s Particular Prosecutor’s workplace charged Kazimir with a “corruption-related crime”. It dropped the cost in June, whereas additionally telling prosecutors to assessment the case. The police didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Kazimir was finance minister from 2012 till 2019, nominated by the leftist SMER social gathering.
Slovak information web site aktuality.sk reported final yr when fees have been first introduced that Kazimir was a “courier” who introduced an round 50,000 euro bribe to the then-chief of the nation’s tax administration.
Kazimir denied the cost once more on Thursday.
“The accusation that I ought to have bribed a senior (tax) official is an absolute lie,” he stated in an announcement from the Nationwide Financial institution of Slovakia. “I’ve not dedicated any crime.”
SMER was knocked out of presidency in 2020 by a coalition of events promising to wash up corruption.
Underneath Slovak legislation, the central financial institution chief is appointed by the president after being nominated by the federal government and authorized by parliament, and might be dismissed if she or he stops assembly standards which embody a clear felony file.
ECB Governing Council members might be eliminated if they’ve been discovered responsible of significant misconduct or authorities present enough proof that they’ve engaged in such misconduct.
The ECB declined to remark.
In 2018, Latvia barred its central financial institution governor from workplace and prevented him from collaborating in ECB conferences after he was accused by its public prosecutor of taking a bribe, an accusation the governor denied.