BRATISLAVA, February 28, (WEBNOVINY) – Controversial businessman Marian Kocner, who had been meeting and discussing politics with SaS leader and former Parliament Speaker Richard Sulik, gave a news conference on Tuesday in reaction to videos from their meetings published on the internet and following Sulik’s explanations. Kocner denied that in their discussions Sulik was trying to find out which MPs in the coalition are traitors, but what Kocner knows about it. He is convinced Sulik wanted to warn the traitors who supported Dobroslsv Trnka in the prosecutor general election about what Kocner knows so that they can hide traces of evidence.
The businessman also said that Sulik should disclose who discussed the need for replacing the prime minister with him as they would probably also have planned how this could be done. Kocner is convinced that some people in SaS wanted to sell the remaining state-owned stake in gas utility SPP to their “friends” from Czech company Prumyslovy Holding which is co-owned by Slovak conglomerate J&T. Kocner also commented on election of the prosecutor general: He believes that SDKU-DS Chairman Mikulas Dzurinda instructed his party colleague Stanislav Janis to nominate former PG Dobroslav Trnka for another term in office.
Kocner also discussed financing political parties, saying that he gave SDKU-DS a loan to organize a party congress. He is not able to recall the exact amount of funds, but the loan was repaid. The businessman also stated that financial group Penta gave SaS some 5 million Slovak crowns in a plastic bag for the campaign.
The businessman is disappointed that Sulik now talks about him like about a criminal; he considered them to be friends. He also said that Sulik was lying when defending himself in the Sasanka case, for example in declaring his will to publish their e-mail communication, but not contrasigning Kocner’s consent. He also claims that the way they met the first time was different than Sulik informed. They should have later discussed politics with Kocner advising Sulik whom to avoid and doing background checks on SaS candidates for MPs for Sulik.
A video of Kocner and Sulik discussing political issues in Kocner’s house appeared on the internet in late February this year. Kocner says that a videobug must have been installed in his house, probably in the heating controller which he already replaced with a new one due to technical problems. He is convinced the device was placed there to record Sulik, not him, claiming that it is possible that secret services monitor him, but with other means. Kocner says the bug could have been placed by the Military Counterintelligence Service (VOS) which faced a wiretapping scandal in fall 2011.
SDKU-DS denied both ever accepting a loan from Marian Kocner and Mikulas Dzurinda instructing Stanislav Janis to nominate Trnka. Penta spokesman Martin Danko also refused that Penta would have provided any funding to SaS.
SITA