PM Admits to Plagiarism, But Will Resign Only after Keeping Promises

Bratislava, July 16 (TASR) – I apologise to all honest students who didn’t cheat during their studies, Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) wrote on a social network on Thursday in response to media coverage about his master’s thesis, confessing that he himself engaged in deception during his studies and that he should probably lose his degree.

According to media information, Matovic allegedly copied two books by three Slovak economists in order to write his diploma thesis on the tax system.

Matovic added that he’ll resign as prime minister, but only after he’s carried out everything he promised to people before the general election.

“Honestly, I have no idea if I failed to quote something in my diploma thesis 22 years ago and how much it was. If so, I stole something that did not belong to me, I’m de facto a thief in this matter, which is sad and certainly not to be praised,” he said in response to questions from Dennik N daily about his diploma thesis.

In his social network post, the premier admitted that he became accustomed to plagiarism in the final two years of his university studies and that he should probably lose his degree for this reason. “I apologise to all honest students who were able to graduate without pasting anything from other works, without cheating or other ‘tricks’. I sincerely admire you,” he said.