Penta Co-owner Released from Custody

Bratislava, January 7 (TASR) – Co-owner of Penta financial group Jaroslav H. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] was released from custody along with ex-Slovak Information Service (SIS) member Dana A. by a decision of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Supreme Court deliberated on the complaint lodged by the defendants and ruled that there is no reason to hold them in custody, thus overruling the December decision by the Specialised Criminal Court, TASR learnt from Supreme Court spokesperson Alexandra Vazanova.

“At its closed-door session, Senate 4T of the Supreme Court, based on complaints of defendants Jaroslav H. and Dana A. chose to annul the decision by the Specialised Criminal Court, dated from December 4, 2020, and released both defendants from custody. The Senate came to the conclusion that there is no reason for custody,” stated the spokesperson.

“We welcome the fact that the Supreme Court embraced our complaint against custody. We have been claiming that the custody for Mr. Hascak is unlawful and unsubstantiated since the very beginning. We can’t comment more at the moment, seeing that we’re not familiar with details of the Supreme Court’s decision,” said defence lawyer Martin Skubla.
The Supreme Court’s 4T Senate consists of judges Pavol Farkas, Alena Siskova and Martina Zelenakova.

Jaroslav H. faces charges of corruption and money laundering. He was detained in a raid at Penta’s Digital Park headquarters in Bratislava by a Lynx Commando team on December 1.