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FinMin Slaps Heavy Fines on Supreme Court for Blocking Inspection
Monday 02 August 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, August 2(TASR) - The Finance Ministry has decided to mete out a fine of €33,000 and €1,000 on Slovakia's Supreme Court and its chairman Stefan Harabin for blocking an audit of the institution for a second time within a week, said Finance Minister Ivan Miklos later on Monday.
Miklos, invoking provisions of the Financial Audit Act, said he will again dispatch inspectors on Tuesday and is set to reimpose the said fines. Checking on the public spending is within the purview of his ministry, and not even the Supreme Court may select whether the Supreme Audit Office or Finance Ministry will carry out the audit.
The ministry, according to him, will make public all of its correspondence with the court as to when inspections will take place.
According to Harabin, Miklos once again has resorted to expedience and displays his ignorance of the legal system. He described the fine as unlawful and showing that the finance minister has been seeking from the first to bring down the entire Court's budget and is employing the media in this effort.
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