Rajtar: Pellegrini Shows Lack of Trust in Interior Minister

Bratislava, May 28 (TASR) – Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) has expressed his lack of confidence in Interior Minister Denisa Sakova (Smer-SD), stated Opposition MP Jozef Rajtar (Freedom and Solidarity) on Monday in response to information reported by the media that the premier blocked Sakova’s plan to nominate incumbent Police Attache in Croatia Marian Slobodnik for the post of police chief.

“Slobodnik’s son-in-law did business with Ladislav Basternak, currently charged with tax fraud. Pellegrini has prevented this because it would be a mockery of the public. By doing this he voiced no-confidence in minister Sakova, who even after weeks of searching wasn’t able to select a person without links to any dark figure of the Mafia and oligarchic background,” said Rajtar.

Despite this, Rajtar considers Pellegrini to be a weak premier. “There are enough decent people in the police, and there are enough people with authority. It would certainly be possible to find people who aren’t connected with Basternak,” said Rajtar, adding that current Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar is leaving the post on Thursday (May 31), but police officers still don’t know the name of their new boss. “The coalition claims that it has no alternative, but the fact is that it doesn’t know how to govern,” he said, stressing that the best solution for Slovakia is a snap election.

Sakova announced last week that she’d present changes in key personnel in the police early this week. These changes have come following the murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend and the subsequent mass public protests, which also resulted in the resignations of prime minister Robert Fico and interior minister Robert Kalinak (both Smer-SD).