The authors work at the Stop Corruption Foundation
Despite generous construction contracts, he incurred debts of tens of millions of euros and did not pay his suppliers. The construction giant Váhostav of the influential businessman Juraj Široký got into trouble more than ten years ago and faced an investigation for defrauding a creditor.
And although Široký was the main representative of the company, the investigator did not charge him. The head of the board of directors, Ján Kato, ended up in court, serving a five-year probation. Only the indictment in the Ochistec case revealed why Široký apparently remained outside the interest of the police. Another oligarch had to take care of it – Norbert Bödörwho, according to the indictment, was the head of the police mafia.
According to Očistec, he should have given a bribe of 20,000 euros to Bernard Slobodník, then director of the financial police. In return, he was supposed to ensure that Široký was given peace. “So that he is not accused, and in the case of the execution of actions, that there is minimal interference with the personal freedom of the suspects,” the indictment states. Bödör wanted to receive regular information about the criminal proceedings.
Bödör was initially sentenced to two to five years for the crime of bribery. However, just like Široký once upon a time, in this particular case he gets away without punishment. The amendment helped him Criminal lawwhich shortened the limitation periods, so this deed is already time-barred.
He pushed through the amendment and the deputy speaker of the parliament voted for it in the parliament Direction Tibor Gašpar. He is also accused in Purgatory and the changes helped him too. According to the indictment, as police president, he should have been present when Bödör handed over bribes and tasked police officers.
According to the indictment, they watched both Kiska and Lipšic
The hearing in the Purgatory case should begin in June. 10 people are indicted for 20 crimes. Bödör is accused of having founded a mafia in the police, which perverted justice for bribes, purposefully prosecuted and persecuted the inconvenient and, on the contrary, covered up the criminal activities of “our” people. The Zastavme korupciu foundation studied in detail the indictment in Očistec and analyzed the impact of the amendments on the individual actors of the case.
She helped Bödör several times. However, he still faces 5 to 10 years for founding a criminal group. This is the most severe possible punishment that he can receive for the acts in the indictment, but even here the proposed changes can help him.
An amendment, which the parliament will still be discussing, would be in favor of Bödör. This is the position of the so-called penitents. If passed, the testimony of a cooperating accused could serve as evidence only if it was supported by other evidence, but not by the testimony of another penitent. In the indictment, the criminal group is based mainly on the confessions of some of its members.
They were supposed to collect “compro” on Yahnátek
In addition to Široký, thanks to the amendment, the statute of limitations for other bribery, where he was originally threatened with 2 to 5 years, is also barred. The point was that as early as 2015, he should have instructed the police leadership and the criminal agency to ensure the surveillance of several politicians. According to the indictment, he was supposed to pay them money for that. They should have put the tracker on the boss at the time OĽaNO Igor Matovičex-president Andrej Kiska and the prosecutor Daniel Lipsic. They were also supposed to collect information about them.
In case of conviction, Bödör will also receive a lighter sentence for other acts in which he participated together with Gašpar. According to the indictment, they were supposed to take a bribe from a businessman who wanted to avoid criminal proceedings for tax fraud in the company.
In one case, he faces the same sentence as before the law was changed – 2 to 5 years. According to the indictment, Bödör should have led the head of the anti-corruption unit, Robert Krajmer, to establish an operative file and extort former employees of the Ministry of Agriculture. He allegedly wanted something from them about Ľubomír Jahnátek, who at the time held the position of chairman of the Office for the Regulation of Network Industries. The office is important in determining pricing in energy, and Bödör apparently wanted to have Jahnátek “in the palm of his hand.”
The indictment in the Purgatory and the effects of the amendments to the criminal codes were analyzed by the former director NAKA Ľubomír Daňko, who currently works at the Stop Corruption Foundation. The text was prepared by Zuzana Petková.
How the amendment helped Bödör
Deed no. 5 (Bribery for monitoring Lipšic et al.) – Crime of bribery according to § 333 paragraph 1, paragraph 2 letter b) of the Criminal Code. (Tibor Gašpar is being prosecuted for this act, but for a different crime, namely for the misdemeanor of abuse of authority of a public official according to § 326 paragraph 1 letter b) of the Criminal Code).
After the old punishment of 2 to 5 years. After the new 6 months to 3 years. In the old days, the limitation period was 5 years. The statute of limitations is now only 3 years. The act took place in 2015, so it is time-barred, it became time-barred in 2018, as the accusation was made only in November 2021.
Deed no. 7 (Bribery for Slobodník in the Váhostav case) – Offense of bribery according to § 333 paragraph 1, paragraph 2 letter b) of the Criminal Code, according to the old sentence 2 to 5 years, according to the new sentence 6 months to 3 years, the statute of limitations is three years according to the new, according to the old it was 5 years, so this act should be time-barred, since it happened in 2016, and thus it was time-barred again in 2019, that is, before the charges were filed.
