Slovak central bank lodges criminal complaint

The two managers of the Slovak central bank (NBS) facing charges of misusing a public official's powers over their decision to send the Rapid Life insurer into receivership will be prosecuted at liberty. "By this decision, the tenures of members of the insurer's statutory body were suspended and they were replaced with a receiver, appointed by the bank, to whom they gave consent to lodge a bankruptcy motion on behalf of the insurer," said the police. The suspects might face 10-20 years in jail if found guilty. Subsequently, the Slovak central bank reported that it would lodge a criminal complaint, as it objects to the charges pressed against its two managers. According to NBS, the decision was substantiated and lawful. "The reasons for receivership were confirmed by an NBS oversight and an independent external audit. Based on this, NBS has lodged a series of criminal complaints. The consent of NBS with the receivership was also lawful and substantiated, as also affirmed by the Kosice District Court via its decision to send the insurer into bankruptcy," NBS stated on Tuesday, February 26. The central bank views any notion of criminal activities on the part of its two managers as absurd. As it has not been notified by the investigator about the charges and no one at the central bank has been called upon to testify, NBS will ask law-enforcement bodies for an official stance. "It's disconcerting that no charges have been pressed against the individuals whose systematic activities at Rapid Life damaged almost 15,000 clients and make them lose more than €20 million, even though NBS filed the first of its criminal lawsuits two years ago," added the bank. According to NBS, this development lends growing credence to the impression that the individuals who damaged the clients "enjoy a strange impunity from the law under the protection of some representatives of law-enforcement bodies". Therefore, the pressure exerted on the Slovak central bank continues "despite NBS repeatedly reporting this to the Prosecutor's Office as well as law-enforcement bodies". NBS sent Rapid Life into receivership in June 2017 in response to its findings that the insurer was putting the rights of its clients in grave jeopardy.