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KDH Wants to Make Politicians Financially Accountable for Damage
Friday 30 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - The amendment to the act on responsibility of public officials when carrying out public duties, which the opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) want adopted in the next electoral term, would make politicians accountable for any damage they cause, KDH chairman Jan Figel said at a press conference on Friday.
According to expert on constitutional law and KDH candidate in the upcoming general election Radoslav Prochazka, the amendment would fill in the existing gap between allocating political responsibility for misconduct on one hand and prosecution on the other. "One pole is political accountability, the other criminal responsibility, and between them is a chasm in which millions are being lost," said the lawyer. It often happens that a decision made by a politician that causes gross damage to public finances can't be deemed as a crime and ends up with only the vague allocation of political responsibility, Prochazka pointed out.
The amendment is based on three pillars. "The first one is the introduction of responsibility vis-a-vis public officials for violating their duty to approach public resources with the appropriate frugality," reads the report to the amendment.
"The second pillar is the opportunity for reimbursement for damage by an insurance company, if the public official has concluded an insurance contract for this kind of damage," said Prochazka, adding that this is a common practice among lawyers, for example. Meanwhile, the fees for this kind of insurance have gradually fallen to reasonable amounts, he noted.
"The third pillar is the power of the Prosecutor-General to file lawsuits on behalf of the state or self-governing body in order to secure reimbursement for damages," reads the report.
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