Prosecutor-General Withdraws Charges Against Jaroslav Hascak

Bratislava, August 31 (TASR) – Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka withdrew charges against co-owner of Penta financial group Jaroslav Hascak, former Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) head Lubomir Arpas and Arpas’ wife in the Gorilla case, TASR learnt on Tuesday.

Hascak faced charges of bribery and aggravated money laundering. Arpas was indicted of misuse of public officials’ powers, aggravated bribery and money laundering, while his wife was charged with aggravated money laundering.

Prosecutor-General Zilinka underlined that defendants can be prosecuted only in a lawful manner and due to legal reasons.

In Zilinka’s view, law enforcement bodies failed to collect evidence in sufficient quantity and quality to enable criminal prosecution. When considering the case, Zilinka also took into account the verdicts of the Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights.

“In line with the legal conclusions of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor-General decided that the resolution to press charges violated the law to the detriment of all three indicted,” added Prosecutor-General’s spokesperson Jana Tokolyova.