The opposition criticises the state of corruption in Slovakia and the country's decline in the global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), warning that if nothing changes, Slovakia could end up in last place.
"Today it became clear that since the government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD) took office, Slovakia has fallen by 14 places in the Corruption Perceptions Index," said Zuzana Števulová`, vice-chair of the Progressive Slovakia (PS) caucus. In her view, the coalition is mocking people, and she criticised Parliament for dealing with red herring issues instead of tackling genuine problems.
The drop in the ranking from 59th to 61st place has also drawn criticism from SaS, which points out that only four EU countries perform worse – Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. "If nothing changes, we will soon be last. Slovakia needs a restart," SaS said on social media.
MP Veronika Remišová ('Slovakia'–Za ludi) spoke of the consequences of the breakdown of the rule of law and justice. "Another year-on-year decline in the perception of corruption is a natural consequence of the current government's steps to protect criminal groups. The European Public Prosecutor's Office says Slovakia has become a haven for tax fraud, and the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has been unsuccessfully urging the government to do something about corruption," Remišová said, adding that the failure to investigate corruption due to government interference was recently criticised by Prosecutor-General Maroš Žilinka.
Police Corps President Jana Maškarová insists that the police are investigating corruption and other economic crimes in a no less effective manner. To this end, Maškarová presented police data at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that operational and intelligence activities became even more effective last year.
Maškarová also rejected claims that such crimes are being handled by inexperienced investigators. She underlined that police effectiveness is demonstrated not only by the volume of criminal intelligence obtained, but also by other indicators. The police chief declared that corruption cases are being handled by investigators with an average of 15 years of experience. She rejected claims that cases are being investigated by young and inexperienced officers.
Slovakia ranked 61st out of 182 countries in the global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), falling by two places year on year. It scored 48 out of a possible 100 points, with a higher score indicating less corruption, reported Transparency International Slovakia (TIS) director Michal Piško. The ranking is compiled by Transparency International headquarters using indices from independent institutions mapping one to two years back. "Slovakia was covered by nine indices, and we worsened year on year in five of them," Piško said. Last year, Slovakia ranked 59th out of 180 countries with a score of 49 points.
Source: TASR
