Kiska: I've No Doubts Now that State Power Has Been Misused
Bratislava, October 1 (TASR) – Following the incidents aimed against his person, President Andrej Kiska has no doubts that the state’s power is being misused in Slovakia, Kiska’s spokesman Roman Krpelan told TASR on Sunday.
The president was responding to Prime Minister Robert Fico’s (Smer-SD) statements made earlier in the day as well as to the leak of confidential documents that have revealed tax evasion linked to a firm co-owned by Kiska.
“Unfortunately, until now I only had a suspicion that regarding the case of the information leak the state’s power might have been misused. However, after today I have no doubts about it at all,” Kiska said.
The president didn’t comment on Fico’s statements about his alleged incorrect funding of his presidential campaign.
Fico at a briefing earlier in the day stated that he didn’t obtain the information about Kiska’s tax-related issues illegally from the tax office or any other bodies, but that the president told him about it himself. He has witnesses and he’s willing to take a lie detector test in this regard.
The premier referred to the statements made by Fair-Play Alliance chair Zuzana Wienk on RTVS’s programme ‘O 5 Minut 12’ (Five Minutes to Twelve) earlier in the day. Wienk said that Fico knew about the tax audit at a company co-owned by Kiska as early as in August – before an anonymous person or entity released the confidential information in September. She also said that Fico spoke about Kiska’s tax-related issue during a working meeting concerning a bill on whistleblowers in which she participated. According to Wienk, Fico at the meeting allegedly described Kiska as a tax fraudster that cannot be trusted. Fico also didn’t agree with a proposal that the head of the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers should be appointed by the president. Wienk said that confidential information protected by the law is being misused in a political fight.
The premier at the briefing told journalists that Wienk is Kiska’s friend, and he rejected her accusations. He added that the fact the “blame has been put on him” is a result of a joint agreement between Wienk and the Presidential Office.
