BRATISLAVA, April 7, (SITA) — In reaction to accusations of leader of the opposition SNS party Jan Slota, Police President Jaroslav Spisiak told a news conference that he was used to accusations and invectives. “I have experienced it several times. I am one of the policemen against whom the most motions have been filed. I have never considered it dignified to defend myself through the media. It is the same now,” he said. The police chief emphasized that attacks against him have never discouraged him from his work, have never threatened him or forced him to act in any manner other than objectively and justly. “If Mr. Slota believes he will put us off from investigating cases, he is wrong,” he said.
In response to Slota’s attacks, the police president stated that did not steal petrol from a service car in 1991, as leader of the opposition SNS party Jan Slota claims. Speaking at a news conference, Spisiak explained that he just borrowed a liter of petrol, which a police officer on duty recorded. He also returned the petrol under the supervision of the officer on duty. “The theft of petrol basically was not theft of petrol. I was disciplinarily prosecuted for having borrowed a liter of petrol,” the police president announced.
On Thursday, Slota accused Spisiak of causing several car accidents under the influence of alcohol between 2000 and 2002. Spisiak explained the circumstances of the two accidents: one was not caused by him, and in the other he tested negative for alcohol. The police chief added that he was disciplinarily prosecuted for not having paid sufficient attention to driving.
„Mr. Slota stated upon presenting my activities that I ordered an investigation of several journalists. I have never ordered investigation of journalists,” Spisiak declared. He added that if he ordered anything, it always concerned a criminal act and only then the persons involved in it.
Police President Jaroslav Spisiak was disciplinarily prosecuted for stealing petrol from his service car in 1991, alleges SNS Chairman Jan Slota. The SNS boss told journalists on Thursday that Spisiak was officially punished for that. In 2000-2002, Spisiak reportedly caused several car accidents under the influence of alcohol. Slota informed that police inspectors who were put on the cases swept the evidence under the carpet and are now top-ranking police officers. Slota finds it beyond reason that Spisiak could gain security clearance from the National Security Office with such a record.
Slota urged Spisiak to specify how many disciplinary proceedings were opened against him and in what cases and how many times he was found incapable of carrying out his duties or how many times he faced the threat of being fired from the police. Slota said that the Prosecutor General’s Office has received a complaint that in the era of Spisiak, petrol was illegally exported in Slovnaft. Slota also accused Spisiak of having ordering investigation of six journalists and having initiated criminal prosecution of three prosecutors and three judges. He called Spisiak a sponge who abused the media for self-presentation, detained not a single offender and sponged off the work of other police officers. The attack is apparently linked with police investigation of mismanagement of some SNS ministers during the previous election term.
SITA