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Belousovova: New Act on Property Disclosure Might End Up in Court
Saturday 20 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
If new legislation on disclosing the origin of property is passed in Parliament in the shape it was drafted by Prime Minister Robert Fico, it's quite likely that it will end up in the hands of the Constitutional Court. This is according to Slovak National Party (SNS) vice-chair Anna Belousovova. She says the court might in turn either abolish or suspend it from going effective.
"What we're opposed to is the fact that the burden of proof being placed on the accused," explained Belousovova, speaking on the Slovak Radio's weekly political debate 'Sobotne Dialogy' on Saturday.
Belousovova claims it has to be the state which has to prove that someone's property was gained illegally, and also cited the existence of the 'innocent until proven guilty' principle in the Slovak justice. Belousovova says she supports the idea of disclosing the origin of property, but this should be taking place under different circumstances. She also said the timing of submitting the bill was driven by the approaching date of general election (scheduled for June 12).
According to Christian Democrats (KDH) MP Pavol Abrhan, his party is ready to vote for the law to pass. "I guess that in the second reading there will be room to fine-tune the proposed version, in order to avoid potential constitutional wrangles," he said without specifying what sort of refinement his party would suggest.
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