The police, who were investigating claims by former Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar that Prime Minister Robert Golob interfered in the work of the police, have now filed a criminal complaint against him, according to reports by Television Slovenia. The Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office has also confirmed that it has received the complaint.
The police have been investigating Bobnar’s allegations in pre-trial proceedings since her resignation almost two years ago, Television Slovenia reported. Bobnar informed the Prosecutor’s Office and the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) about the alleged pressure on her and the then-acting Director-General of the Police, Boštjan Lindav, while she was still the Minister of the Interior, because she believed that what was happening could be understood as a suspected criminal offence. She then spoke about what was happening in the police in more detail before the National Assembly’s Commission of Inquiry for determining the potential political responsibility of holders of public office with regard to the alleged inadmissible political interference in the work of the Police and other competent state authorities.
“Prime Minister Golob informed me that Boštjan Lindav had failed to carry out his task of purging the police force, that this is treason, and then he pointed out to me Darko Muženič and David Antolovič. I perceived that the Prime Minister was in direct contact with the Director of the National Bureau of Investigation,” Bobnar said of her meetings with Muženič.
It was clearly not a hallucination; he is avoiding the Commission of Inquiry
Prime Minister Golob responded to Bobnar’s statements a day later. He said that these were hallucinations. “The only truth she told was that we agreed in May, before she was appointed, that she had one task, and that was to purge the police of the Janšaists (Janša supporters),” is what Golob said at the time, according to Television Slovenia. He announced that he himself would testify before the commission and said he had enough witnesses and evidence to show how little truth Bobnar was actually telling.
To date, Golob has not yet appeared before the Commission of Inquiry. However, the fact that he has had a conversation with the criminal investigators could be inferred from the fact that the prosecutor’s office informed the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption at the end of August that there were no longer any objections to Prime Minister Golob familiarising himself with the Commission’s file on the case. The police conducted their proceedings under the supervision of the competent prosecutor’s office and concluded them with a criminal indictment, according to Television Slovenia.
Meanwhile, lawyer Zdolšek told the Slovenian Press Agency (STA): “In a case like this, where there is a blatant attack on a politician who was a police officer and Minister of the Interior, the prosecutor’s office should be very careful when dealing with a criminal charge. It may quickly turn out that the individual allegations that form the basis of the indictment are not true. Such as, for example, the one about the Prime Minister’s interference in the arrest of spies.” The lawyer is convinced that the Prime Minister’s statements do not contain the elements of a criminal offence.
Television Slovenia also notes that the prosecution now has three options. It can file a direct indictment. If it believes that it needs further evidence, it can launch a judicial investigation, Slovenian Press Agency reports. Or it can also dismiss the criminal charge.
C. Š.
