The eleven Supreme Court judges who won their case over pay discrimination this week, and the hundreds more who will now clearly request the same, may have to wait a long time before they get the EUR 70 million or so that all the lawsuits are expected to cost.
The problem is that the Supreme Court, which could have contested the lawsuits of its judges, doesn’t even have the EUR 1.15 million that is owed to the first 11 judges. Hardly surprising, considering all the special bonuses that have been paid out.
Ironically, Supreme Court chairman Stefan Harabin (the top public earner in 2010) has allegedly called on his arch enemy finance minister Ivan Miklos to cough up the money. Ministry spokesman Martin Jaros said he knew nothing of such a request, however.
Harabin and Miklos have been at each other’s throats for almost a year as Harabin would not let the Ministry of Finance conduct an audit at the court. The feud has led to several lawsuits, Harabin losing 70% of his annual salary and all kinds of aftershocks as Harabin continues in the war against Miklos and justice minister Lucia Zitnanska.
As could be expected, finance minister Miklos said he would not talk about giving money to the Supreme Court, at least not until such times as the audit that caused all the trouble is allowed. After all, if the Ministry of Finance cannot audit the finances and operations of the Supreme Court, it is hardly in a position to grant it more money.