Main opposition party Smer-SD has reacted to the shredding of independent MP Igor Matovic’s statement concerning cronyism and corruption in political parties, with them calling for Jozef Centes to resign.
Centes, who was elected to the post of Attorney General in parliament but who still does not hold the post as President Ivan Gasparovic hasn’t appointed him yet, accidentally had the statement shredded along with his notes on Friday. Even Igor Matovic admits that the incident was just an unfortunate mistake and that the incident shouldn’t be used to discredit Centes.
Nevertheless, deputy chairman of Smer-SD, Pavol Paska, told journalists yesterday that Centes should consider resigning over the blunder, as it proves that he is untrustworthy. Paska said that it makes no difference whether the President appoints him as Attorney General or not, and that the governing coalition should ask itself whether it is appropriate that someone like Centes hold such a key post.
The battle for the Attorney General post has been going on for months, with all kinds of tactics being deployed. The coalition eventually got its candidate Centes voted into the post, much to the dismay of the opposition, which sees the latest incident as another chance to change the state of affairs.
Paska has therefore called on the coalition to sit down with the opposition and work out a common candidate, one that would not lose or shred important statements. “I feel that nothing works in Slovakia these days, and that Centes is making fun of people together with Matovic” said Paska, who doubts that the incident could have happened just by unfortunate chance, as both the electronic and hard copy versions “vanished into thin air”.
Paska stands by speculations that the destruction of the first statement was carried out on purpose because of things Matovic may have said that would cause the coalition a lot of “worry lines”. He called Centes a political puppet for the actions.
In response to the accusations, prosecutor Centes refused to comment, telling TASR newswire merely that he had absolutely no interest or intention to shred or hide anything, and that it merely a human error. Matovic answered all the questions the same a second time round.
Oh Yawn , more non news , and the News making a mountain out of a mole hill . Can anyone tell me why 40% of voting Slovaks vote for SMER ? Are these people stupid , dumb or just had their brains removed at birth and still long to live in the land of socialist milk and honey , where a ltr of milk and loaf of bread was 1Kc each and bribes was the normal way job motivation ?