On Thursday morning, the National Crime Agency detained the head of the Slovak Intelligence Service Vladimír Pčolinský. The news outlet aktuality.sk reported that the reason for the move, which was allegedly okayed by the Special Prosecutor's Office, was that Pčolinský accepted a bribe from entrepreneur Zoroslav K., who was eavesdropped on and monitored by the SIS. "The intelligence service allegedly halted these activities at the behest of Pčolinský. Zoroslav K. has been in custody since October 2020. Pčolinský, who is a nominee of the coalition party Sme Rodina (We Are Family), has been at the helm of the intelligence service since April 2020.
Parliamentary Chair and head of We Are Family Boris Kollár on Thursday asked President Zuzana Čaputová to temporarily suspend Pčolinský from his position in the intelligence agency. At the same time, he asked the president to lift Pčolinský's oath of secrecy so that he can provide his testimony regarding the facts.
"The police and prosecution service have their hands absolutely free for the first time in 12 years and are acting independently", said a spokesperson for the ruling coalition party OĽaNO Matúš Bystriansky in reaction to the detention. Interior Minister Roman Mikulec (also OĽaNO) has refused to comment on the reports regarding the arrest of head of the Slovak Intelligence Service, noting that investigators carry out their tasks independently.
Junior coalition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) stated on Thursday that they were caught by surprise with the arrest of Vladimír Pčolinský. "The detention of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) director is an extremely serious thing, but at the same time it is proof that the police and the prosecutor's office do not have their hands tied and that there's no political influence on the law-enforcement authorities", Parliamentary Vice-chair Juraj Seliga (For the People) posted on a social network on Thursday.
