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Halecky: Proposals on Proving Origin of Property Doomed to Fail in Court
Tuesday 05 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 5 (TASR) - The coalition Smer-SD party and the Opposition will present the idea of introducing an act on proving the origin of property before every election to come, only for this to be passed in Parliament but later rejected by the Constitutional Court, LS-HZDS MP Jozef Halecky said on Tuesday in reaction to related proposals presented by Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Christian Democrat MP Daniel Lipsic this week.
Halecky claimed that the two parties may have no real intention of pushing through the act, as this would require a lengthy discussion with judges, prosecutors, political parties and the public and this hasn't taken place.
The coalition MP pointed out that both proposals are retroactive and move the burden of proof onto the accused, which is at stark variance with the Constitution, while planned changes in legislation won't resolve the matter either.
"It's regrettable, however, that the premier wants to submit a proposal that is aimed at taking over the voters of its coalition partners," added Halecky.
Slovak National Party (SNS) first vice-chair Anna Belousovova told TASR that she isn't against the act, but she doesn't like the burden of proof being put on the accused, which violates the principle of the presumption of innocence.
When asked about the retroactivity of the bills, she said that she would also be interested in how certain people acquired immense wealth immediately after the Velvet Revolution in November 1989.
Opposition ethnic-Hungarian SMK caucus leader Gyula Bardos reiterated the stance of his party that it is ready to back the idea in Parliament. Nonetheless, he described Fico's initiative as a marketing move. "What has Smer-SD been doing for the past 3.5 years? It has its political strength. Moreover, the Opposition has repeatedly declared its readiness to back this issue," he said.
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