Police demanded champagne from driver but get lawsuit instead

Two policemen identified only as Roland S. and Robert H. stood before the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok on charges of accepting bribes and abuse of public office. As the website Tvnoviny.sk has reported, the police officers demanded champagne from a driver. "Bratislava policemen wanted to take a bribe. Not money, however, but a crate of champagne and, as they emphasised, not just any champagne", the website wrote in March 2014. According to the TVnoviny.sk, a young man with his girlfriend in the car drove down Vajnorska Street in Bratislava, when he was stopped by a police patrol that claimed he'd gone through a red light. The policemen claimed that they had seen the misdemeanour and that is enough evidence. They wanted to a collect a fine of €150, but the young man didn't have enough cash on him and subsequently he received a different offer to resolve the situation. "I was supposed to buy a crate of champagne. Not just any champagne but De Luxe", said the driver. It took a year for the case to make it to court. "The court accepted the indictment, determined the amount of required evidence and set up dates for proceedings", Specialised Criminal Court spokesperson Katarína Kudjáková said. Both defendants refused to enter into a plea bargain with the prosecutor.