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Supreme Court Files Criminal Complaint Over 'Illegal' Attempted Audits
Tuesday 10 August 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, August 10 (TASR)- The Supreme Court has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor-General's Office in connection with Finance Minister Ivan Miklos's attempt to carry out what the Court views as an unlawful audit, TASR learnt on Tuesday.
Chairman of the Supreme Court Stefan Harabin has been refusing to allow Finance Ministry officials to audit the Court's accounts for nearly two weeks, arguing in writing to the ministry that the only body with the power to audit the Supreme Court is the Supreme Audit Office (NKU), as the Court uses funds approved in Parliament. Four attempts to carry out audits have been thwarted to date.
Meanwhile, the ministry has decided to hand out fines of €33,000 to Supreme Court and €1,000 to Harabin for blocking the audits.
Miklos said that checking on public spending is within the purview of his ministry, and not even the Supreme Court can choose whether the Supreme Audit Office or Finance Ministry should carry out audits. The ministry conducted similar audits at the Supreme Court in 2007 and 2009.
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