International arrest warrant issued against Slovak tycoon

An international and European arrest warrant has been issued against politically-connected tycoon Miroslav Vyboh, Specialised Criminal Court spokesperson Katarina Kudjakova confirmed to TASR on Thursday. The entrepreneur is charged with accepting bribes in the Toll Collector III high-profile corruption case. Currently, he resides in Monaco. According to the accounts of cooperating defendants, Vyboh accepted a bribe of €150,000 in 2013 on behalf of then-Finance Ministry's state secretary and current leader of Voice-SD party Peter Pellegrini in order to secure political support for an IT project worth millions. The sum of €150,000 was handed over in cash, packed in boxes of Cristal champagne. Miroslav Vyboh met with entrepreneur Michal Suchoba to whom he allegedly handed over the bribe for a follow-up meeting and conveyed a message: "Pelle gives thanks." Miroslav Vyboh rejects all charges as fabricated. The Slovak Foreign Ministry has suspended Miroslav Vyboh's tenure as honorary consul of the Principality of Monaco. Vyboh enjoys close ties with opposition Smer-SD leader and former premier [2006-10, 2012-18] Robert Fico, who called the entrepreneur in the past his personal friend. Fico responded in his video posted on a social network to the arrest warrant thus: "I've never threatened anyone with imprisonment, but it will be of vital importance for Slovakia as a sovereign state to examine to what extent (OLaNO leader Igor) Matovic and his two lackeys (Special Prosecutor Daniel) Lipsic and (Interior Minister Roman) Mikulec have been misusing the powers of public officials in the spirit of the (Stalinist) 1950s to liquidate the opposition."