PG Office: Politicians bemoan custody of SIS Ex-head without seeing dossier

A pre-trial judge of the Specialised Criminal Court, and subsequently also one from the Supreme Court, have decided that the arrest and subsequent remanding in custody of former Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) director Vladimir Pčolinský was lawful, said Prosecutor-General's Office spokesman Dalibor Skladan on Monday in reaction to complaints from some politicians. Then SIS director Pčolinský was arrested in March on allegations of receiving a bribe from a tycoon to ensure that the latter wasn't eavesdropped. He subsequently resigned from his post. Another accusation of corruption from 2020 emerged recently. He denies the accusations. Pčolinský's brother Peter, who is an MP for the junior governing coalition party Sme rodina (We are family), as well as his party boss Boris Kollar, criticized the arrest and the investigation into the case for being too slow, hinting at it being "a game of intelligence agents".

"The statements of certain politicians obviously aren't grounded in knowledge from the dossier - but this is understandable, as the issue is in its preparatory phase," said Skladan, adding that the arrest of the former Intelligence Service boss was well planned after thorough consideration. "This was to prevent the operation from being thwarted or complicated, and also to protect those involved in the operation and members of the suspect's family from danger. No harm was actually done," said Skladan, adding that only the front door of the apartment block was damaged, while the suspect himself opened the door to his flat. Meanwhile, the suspect himself asked the authorities to be placed in a single cell while in custody, said Skladan, who also denied that there have been any unnecessary delays in the case.