President rejects accusations from Fico, sees them as campaigning

         President Zuzana Caputova rejects any accusations of her attempting to influence the prosecution of a live case via Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka and perceives allegations of Smer-SD chair Robert Fico to that effect as a lie and part of Smer-SD's election campaigning, TASR learnt on Saturday.
        The President's Office explained that the reason why President Caputova met with Special Prosecutor Daniel Lipsic and subsequently Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka back in August 2021 were tense ties between the two prosecutor's offices.
        "This is just another of Robert Fico's lies, over which the President has filed her criminal lawsuit (against Fico) recently, and it only confirms how far he's capable of going to mobilize his voters," TASR was told by President's Office press department head Jozef Matej.
        The President met with Special Prosecutor Lipsic and subsequently Prosecutor-General Zilinka over the tense ties, which were then beginning to escalate into open conflict between Lipsic and Zilinka and their respective institutions. "Seeing as the President is responsible for the proper functioning of constitutional bodies, she found it appropriate to inquire about the causes, nature and intensity of their dispute," said Matej. (TASR)