Affair at Attorney General’s Office Silenced by Tichy

Acting attorney general Ladislav Tichy has finally spoken out in the case regarding deputy attorney general Dobroslav Trnka, who is at the centre of accusations of cronyism and abuse of position in the transfer of a lucrative block of flats in Bernolakovo near Bratislava.

Tichy, who only holds the interim post as President Ivan Gasparovic has stalled and stuttered for 16 months to appoint the elected AG, Jozef Centes, said at a press conference today that in his opinion Trnka had not interfered with the criminal investigation nor harmed any party involved, and also that nobody had made any money out of the transaction.

Trnka is being accused of abusing public office after endorsing the transfer of a block of flats in Bernolakovo called Glance House, despite the property being frozen by the Special Prosecutor’s Office in a dispute between the partners of the developer. Trnka gave his consent to the transfer to Jana Šlachtová, representing the partner CDI from London, and the land registry let it go through.

Tichy pointed a finger of blame at the land register in Senec for transferring title based on Trnka’s approval, saying they had made a mistake by not respecting the freeze imposed on the property by the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Tichy informed also that he had cancelled the approval for the transfer and requested title to be switched back. He has no plans to instigate any disciplinary steps against Trnka, who is nevertheless pondering his resignation.

Trnka faced the Parliamentary committee for defence and security about the affair, but the inquisition was over quickly, with the MPs of the Smer-SD party apparently having no queries about the case. Another dubious aspect of the case is how Trnka’s acquaintance, businessman Marian Kocner, had advised Slachtova in the dispute and how the company Gapeja that received the property (despite being in bankruptcy) belongs to people surrounding Kocner.