BRATISLAVA, August 12, (WEBNOVINY) — The Finance Ministry is preparing a motion it will file against Supreme Court President Stefan Harabin. The ministry is to lodge a complaint with the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Presidium, informed Finance Minister Ivan Miklos on Thursday. Miklos has previously stated that Harabin might have committed the crime of abuse of powers of a public official by having repeatedly rejected a Finance Ministry’s audit at the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the finance minister also signed and thus confirmed effectiveness of a fine of EUR 33,000 for the Supreme Court and EUR 1,000 for its president. On Wednesday, the deadline for the court to eliminate the reasons for the issued fine expired. According to Miklos, no response from the court came. The court now has fifteen days to appeal the fine. The minister confirmed that until now, no institution rejected a governmental audit, by which the ministry controls the effectiveness of use of public funds. According to Miklos, the situation at the Supreme Court where its president refuses to allow the ministry’s audit is a precedent.
The Supreme Court has already filed a motion with the General Prosecution in connection with the Finance Minister’s effort to carry out what it alleges is an unlawful governmental audit of the Supreme Court. „Despite the explanatory letter of the Supreme Court President, the finance minister publicly mocked the court as well as its President Stefan Harabin when he said that instead of him [Harabin] protecting lawfulness, he tramples on it. The minister also threatened with imposing a fine to the Supreme Court and its president-judge even though he has no legal grounds to do so,” says a report of the Supreme Court adding that a judge can be sanctioned only in criminal or disciplinary proceedings. In addition to this, the finance minister publicly threatened the Supreme Court president with filing a criminal motion for adopting this attitude, the Supreme Court stated as another reason to file the motion.
For two weeks, the Ministry of Finance has been trying to start an audit approved by Finance Minister Ivan Miklos for the Supreme Court, but Harabin repeatedly would not allow it. First, he claimed that the inspectors did not have the correct date on the mandate since they came on another day than stated in the mandate, even though the Supreme Court had asked to change the date of the audit. Harabin later started rejecting the governmental audit completely as he thinks that only the Supreme Audit Office has the authority to audit the Supreme Court. The Finance Ministry audited effectiveness and lawfulness of the use of public funds at the Supreme Court during Robert Fico’s Cabinet in 2007 and 2009. Constitutional Court Chairwoman Ivetta Macejkova explained that both the Finance Ministry and the Supreme Audit Office have the right to audit the Constitutional Court every year. Slovakia’s Ombudsman Pavol Kandrac is also convinced that the Ministry of Finance has the right to audit the use of public funds by the Supreme Court.
SITA