Slovakia central bank governor denies bribery charges

The head of Slovakia's central bank, Peter Kazimir, was convicted of bribery by a court on Thursday, with Prime Minister Eduard Heger saying it was “unacceptable” for him to head the bank.

Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova also said Kazimir should consider resigning, but Kazimir denied any wrongdoing.

The country's Special Criminal Court handed Kazimir a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of €100,000 ($110,000), a spokesperson for the court said.

Kazimir is accused of handing a bribe of €48,000 to the head of the country's tax office related to a tax investigation of private companies. 

The court's ruling was made by a criminal warrant — based on evidence submitted during the investigation — and not in a full trial. The verdict was reached on April 3 and announced on Thursday, according to the court.

Kazimir claims innocence

The state prosecution service appealed the verdict shortly after it was issued, sending the case back to court. The special prosecutor's office had charged Kazimir with a "corruption-related crime" in October 2021 but withdrew the charge last June pending a review.

Kazimir, who can appeal the verdict, said in a statement that he has "committed no crime" and he has "no doubt" that he will defend himself before the judge at the main hearing or before the courts of appeal in Slovakia or Europe.

"Despite the criminal warrant, which has not even been delivered to me yet, I am innocent," Kazimir said.

The verdict coincided with Kazimir being in the US, along with many leading finance politicians, for the IMF and World Bank's one-week Spring Meeting.

Should the conviction stand, it could cost Kazimir his job.

Kazimir as finance minister in Fico's goverment

The case dates back to when Kazimir served as finance minister from 2012 to 2019 in Prime Minister Robert Fico's government.

Fico's leftist Smer-Social Democracy party lost the 2020 general election following an outrage over the murders of a high-profile journalist and his fiancee in 2018.

An investigation into their deaths exposed close links between businessmen and politicians, and voters chose a party that campaigned on an anti-corruption platform in the 2020 vote.

Ever since the new government came into power, a number of senior officials, police officers, judges and business people have been charged with corruption and other crimes.

Slovakia also faces an early election in September after the goverment lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote in December. Recent polls suggest that Fico stands a change to win the snap vote.

As the head central bank official in a country using the single European currency, Kazimir is also a member of the European Central Bank's governing council that decides monetary policy for 20 countries using the euro.

rm/msh (Reuters, AP)