The Matovič family files a criminal complaint in connection with the sale of KUB air defense systems. MP and ex-Minister of the Interior Roman Mikulec (Movement Slovakia) informed about this at today’s press conference in front of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic. They filed a criminal complaint on suspicion of violating the rules in the management of foreign property.
“It is related to the publicized information related to the sale of the KUB anti-aircraft system from the Ministry of Defense to Uganda. The Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) handed over this system last year, or rather, they put it in storage as scrap, as unusable material. But surprise the world, this system, which was apparently still functional, apparently had nothing to do with scrap, came under contract into the hands of a private company, which further on the basis of export permits, it was exported to the final destination – to Uganda in Africa,” Mikulec recalled. He added that SR sold the systems as scrap for roughly 60,000 euros. And the company that bought them sold them for 11 million through Romania and Macedonia to Uganda. If that information is confirmed, then according to Mikulc, it fulfills the factual essence of the criminal act of breach of duty in the management of foreign property in conjunction with other criminal acts.
Member of Parliament from the Slovakian Movement Gábor Grendel emphasized that this information raises very serious suspicions. According to him, SR could earn 11 million euros from the sale of this technology. “Instead, she sold this equipment for 60,000 euros to a private company, and this company subsequently sold the equipment to Uganda for 11 million. These 11 million could have ended up in the Slovak state budget,” added Grendel. According to him, if all medialized information about the KUB systems is confirmed, it will be an exemplary case of a crime.
According to Grendel, the Slovakia Movement expected that this criminal complaint would be filed by the Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák, who claims that he is not responsible for anything and that he has nothing to do with it. “We don’t care who is to blame, but it is absurd that such a thing remains unnoticed, without a response and without the law enforcement authorities checking it. “Why didn’t Kaliňák file a criminal complaint if he claims he had nothing to do with it? Isn’t he missing the 11 million in the budget of the Ministry of Defense?” Grendel asks.
With information about sales of two functional batteries of KUB systems in 2024, the Democrats came first. Former Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Democrats Jaroslav Naď blames the current Minister of Defense for the sale. However, Kaliňák defends himself by saying that Naď shot himself in the knee. He pointed out that the Air Force currently has the same number of combat-ready batteries of the KUB system as during his arrival at the Ministry. However, as he added, the Robus company still has some pieces of technology, based on the contract from 2021, which, according to Kaliňák, was signed by Naď. “That’s his business, which he did with Robus,” the minister said. Robus has signed contracts for the purchase of military scrap and for the purchase of museum exhibits. As Denník N reported, the former Heger government donated two KUB batteries to Ukraine in 2022 in addition to the S-300 system. A few more batteries were kept by the army at that time. The Ministry of Defense subsequently signed a contract for the repairs of these facilities in 2023. “The plan was for these devices to remain in Slovakia until a modern air defense system arrives, which has not happened so far,” said ex-minister Naď, adding that “it was the current minister Kaliňák who sold two full sets of the KUB system to Robus in 2024.”
