MEPs from the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (TAX3) have discussed the situation in Slovakia concerning financial crimes and tax evasion on Thursday. Its only topic discussed were the cases opened by the murdered Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak. The report to be drawn by the Committee should help to fight international fraud.
MEPs invited the editor-in-chief of Slovak news outlet Aktuality.sk Peter Bardy, prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office Maros Zilinka, prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General's Office Radovan Kajaba and representatives of the Financial Directorate Ladislav Hanniker and Lubomir Provaznik. Bardy informed MEPs about the murdered journalist Jan Kuciak's work on VAT refund cases, the abuse of EU funds and connections between the Italian mob and state structures, police and General-Prosecutor's Office.
"Money is the magic word to which politicians react. If the European Union warns us that it will deprive us of its funds if we don't stick to the rules and act irresponsibly, everybody will be sensitive to it, especially politicians," said Bardy for RTVS public TV. He also mentioned the investigation of cases concerning the entrepreneurs Ladislav Basternak and Marian Kocner and their influence on top representatives of the country. Bardy stressed that Kocner, whose cases Kuciak focused on, was interested in eliminating this journalist.
MEPs also voiced the concern that important fraud cases were being revealed by investigative journalists such as Jan Kuciak, and not by the relevant state institutions. The representatives of the Financial Directorate and prosecutors described the work of their respective institutions from the viewpoint of the battle against financial crimes and tax evasion. The prosecutors stressed that they were also taking into account information about frauds that are found out by the media. "In 2018, property worth EUR 56 million was confiscated by the Special Prosecutor's Office including the property from frauds published by the late Mr Kuciak," said the offices prosecutor Maros Zilinka in Brussels.
The TAX3 committee was established to investigate financial crimes and tax evasion within the EU and it will end its activities next month. The information its members collected during their year-long mandate including those regarding Slovakia will be drawn up by the European Parliament in the form of recommendations for the European Commission to enable it to adopt suitable legal measures concerning the obligatory exchange of information to prevent financial crimes and tax evasion, carousel frauds and to alleviate bilateral agreements between countries and to increase the powers of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
