“Decisions of the Constitutional Court comment on themselves. We have the Constitutional Court, where the Constitutional judges decide on matters involving themselves, their children, and their friends. In recent weeks, we were able to follow what is happening at the Constitutional Court. Even more than that: we could read about how they make decisions without even opening the casefile or reading the case. They decide according to what a certain professional associate tells them. This case is very telling because people have been waiting for years for the decision of the Constitutional Court, but if you are a first-class citizen, that is, if you are Aleš Zalar or a comrade of those close to him, then the Constitutional Court not only decides but actually realises the matter within four days,” Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs explained the alarming situation.
“The 24ur web portal reported yesterday that the supervisors had already carried out an audit of five criminal investigations of the National Bureau of Investigation (Nacionalni preiskovalni urad – hereinafter referred to as the NPU), which were ordered by the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs last year. The requested revision caused quite a stir in public, as part of politics claimed that it was illegal because a politician or a minister cannot interfere in criminal investigations conducted by the prosecution,” the host of the show, Luka Svetina, said. Minister Hojs ordered the investigations, among other things, because in the two biggest scandals of the last ten years, IranNLBgate and the procurement of vascular stents, we have still not gotten an answer about who was responsible for the wrongdoings, nor any solid conclusion of the cases. However, based on a document obtained from the Information Commissioner, it can be concluded that the supervisors did not reach the conclusions that certain politicians might have wished for.
The report allegedly stated that in supervising the work of detecting and investigating crime, the supervisors found that criminal investigators really delve into the extensive investigations. The irregularities that were identified in this area stem mainly from the lack of proper organisation of work, direct control of employees and inadequate review of the administrative operations of the unit. Therefore, they also suggested certain measures to address these shortcomings.
This week, Svetina hosted Minister of the Interior Hojs in the studio. Svetina wanted to know whether the revisions of the criminal investigation procedures had really already been completed, as the largest commercial television recently reported that five of the revisions had already been concluded and that no major irregularities were detected in the investigation. “This is another one of their fake news, a complete manipulation. The audits are by no means over, only the part where the police were investigating if there were any mistakes done within the police,” Hojs replied. However, he is still waiting for the more crucial part of the revision, which is being carried out among the employees of the Ministry of the Interior, who have the role of supervising the police – and this is where things are not as they should be.
The investigation of the laundering of Iranian money has been reopened by the NPU and the prosecution
“We will reveal the findings as soon as the case is closed,” Hojs also explained. The host of the show then wanted to know how Hojs commented on the fact that the police were investigating themselves and found no violations in the biggest scandals. This is what happened in the IranNLBgate affair, where money was being transferred to the accounts of fictional people. “This merely shows that they are protecting their own inaction. I am not saying that they are trying to cover up a crime, but they are definitely trying to cover up what they did not do. However, what they did not do is clear to everyone – and in this particular case of Iranian money laundering, we must not forget that the investigation has been reopened.”
The government is being accused of staffing the police, but it only appoints the director-general of the police
Svetina then pointed out that recently, the Ministry of the Interior has been severely criticised by the largest Slovenian commercial television station. Minister of the Interior was even accused of changing personnel. “Is this something that you find controversial, or is it something normal if a government tries to employ people it trusts in a ministry?” Hojs: “The government only appoints the director-general of the police; this is actually the only employee with which the government actually deals. And all of the other staff changes are then the responsibility of the director of the police. I must say that I strongly support the high number of these changes that have taken place under the new directors.” Hojs finds it unacceptable that some people are in the same position, for example, the position of director of the NPU, for 20 or more years, and the results are continuously poor.
Svetina then also touched on the “infamous” measure adopted by the current government, namely, the ban on crossing borders to visit the red countries, which was subsequently suspended by the Constitutional Court until its final decision. “Decisions of the Constitutional Court comment on themselves. We have the Constitutional Court, where the Constitutional judges decide on matters involving themselves, their children, and their friends. In recent weeks, we were able to follow what is happening at the Constitutional Court. Even more than that: we could read about how they make decisions without even opening the casefile or reading the case. They decide according to what a certain professional associate tells them. This case is very telling because people have been waiting for years for the decision of the Constitutional Court, but if you are a first-class citizen, that is, if you are Aleš Zalar or a comrade of those close to him, then the Constitutional Court not only decides but actually realises the matter within four days,” Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs explained.
In some places, the border will be protected with optical fibres and sensors, which will then be connected to control centres
“You can imagine just how important and first-class you really have to be, and how important the connections between certain judges in the Constitutional Court and the initiators are, for a case to be realised to the extent that the measure is stopped in four days.” Svetina then cited the example of the recent arrest of a Slovenian citizen, who was transporting 33 foreigners who had illegally crossed the Slovenian border in a van, and pointed out that the SDS party had promised that the border would soon be sealed. “How is it possible that such things are still happening?” Hojs: “It is, of course, clear that we will realise our promise to the fullest. However, a complete closure is not to be expected. But we are doing everything in our power to make sure that such cases are exposed. It is more than obvious that this is organised crime, as these are not just some random “refugees” who happen to find themselves in the Kolpa river.”
More than a hundred smugglers of this kind have been imprisoned in recent months. The ruling parties, however, are also trying to close the southern border. Currently, a public tender is being held for an additional 50 kilometres of new panel fences. One of the companies will perform testing on-site, as the idea behind all of this is that in some places, the state border would be secured with appropriate optical fibres and sensors on them, and the latter would be connected to control centres, where images would be sent. Thus, an additional seven kilometres of the border would be secured. As Hojs added, people living near the border have also noticed that the matter is developing very differently than it did under the previous government.
Domen Mezeg
