BRATISLAVA, January 26, (WEBNOVINY) — President Ivan Gasparovic will not appoint Jozef Centes to the position of the new prosecutor general of the Slovak Republic because he does not trust him. This information was circulated by the portal www.inforoznava.sk with reference to Wednesday’s statements of the president during his discussion with the municipal deputy from Roznava Ivan Kuhn (OKS). The deputy asked the president when he would make a decision on the appointment of Jozef Centes to this post. Kuhn said that the president told him he would not appoint Jozef Centes because he did not have confidence in him. Gasparovic opines that the issue of a new prosecutor general should be left up to the new government or parliament that will come out of the upcoming early elections in March. President’s spokesman Marek Trubac confirmed president’s statements to SITA new agency on Thursday.
President’s spokesman underscored that the election by parliament of the candidate for the new prosecutor general had been accompanied by many doubts, such as ignoring a preliminary injunction of the Constitutional Court by the speaker of parliament, marking and scrapping ballot papers immediately after the vote and intentional scrapping of a testimony provided by MP Igor Matovic regarding suspicion of corruption by prosecutor Jozef Centes. Trubac added that the president will decide on the appointment of the prosecutor general based on these circumstances after the Constitutional Court reaches the verdict on motions filed by Jozef Centes and Dobroslav Trnka in this matter.
The head of state said in an interview with SITA news agency in December of last year that he firmly believed that the prosecutor general had to be nonpartisan. He emphasized that the election of a prosecutor general was accompanied by “very tough fight of political parties” for which party would push through its candidate.
SDKU-DS Chairman and Foreign Affairs Minister Mikulas Dzurinda told SITA news agency on Thursday that President Ivan Gasparovic is abusing his office by refusing to appoint Prosecutor General-elect Jozef Centes into office. The parliament elected Centes a candidate for prosecutor general on June 17, 2011, in a secret ballot. President Gasparovic is refusing to appoint Centes, claiming he needs to wait for the Constitutional Court to decide on motions filed by two candidates in the election.
Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Committee Chairman Radoslav Prochazka (KDH) says that the president has no right to name or not name Centes on the basis of whether he likes him or not. “The position of parliament is relevant. The president has the right not to name the prosecutor general in case he would not fulfill the conditions for being appointed or if the procedural rules were not observed,” said the MP, according to whom the Constitutional Court should decide on whether Gasparovic has the right not to appoint Centes.
The elected candidate for prosecutor general considers himself apolitical and claims not to be connected to any political party. “I don’t meet politicians and do not owe them anything,” said Centes in reaction upon the president, who was quoted as saying said he does not trust Centes and will not appoint him to office. Centes added that his election in June 2011 was completely legal and the vote’s results were not abolished yet. „I therefore see no obstacles to my appointment,“ said the prosecutor.
SITA