Director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) Pavol Gašpar accepts personal responsibility and will resign when there are legal grounds for his dismissal. It does not consider a damage event or an ordinary accident as legal reasons. He stated this in the Sunday talk show Politika 24 on TV Joj 24. At the same time, Gašpar regrets the accident in Nitra, in which he was a participant. If he had been aware of his guilt at the scene of the crime, he would have admitted it and paid the fine.
- Pavol Gašpar will leave the post of SIS director for legal reasons.
- The accident in which Gašpar was a participant in Nitra is clarified.
- He considers his tattoos to be a private matter not related to work.
- He respects protests against his actions as a democratic expression.
- SIS confirmed information about a possible threat to the security of Slovakia.
“Since the other participants and I did not agree on who is at fault, today the accident is clarified. If it is established at the end of this clarification that I am the culprit, then I will pay the fine as I would have paid it on the spot.” Gašpar added that the accident happened during his personal time off. He declared that he was not drunk or under the influence of other substances, nor was he driving at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.
He also commented on the fact that the Director of the Regional Directorate of the Police in Nitra, Branislav Hajnovič, was also present at the scene of the accident. Gašpar claims that he knows him, but not personally. “I know him from work. I used to work in the Police Force, today we communicate closely with members of the Police Force, so I know who Mr. Hajnovič is,” he said. He added that he spent 4.5 hours at the scene of the accident and Hajnovič stopped there after about 2.5 hours when he was passing by with his wife in a civilian car.
At the same time, Gašpar considers his tattoos to be a private and personal matter. According to his own words, he has several of them and he got them all tattooed before he became the head of the information service. “I go around dressed in a suit. I don’t present these tattoos in work meetings or anywhere in public, so I don’t think this should be a topic that the director of SIS should be questioned about.” he said.
In response to the protests that took place against his work in the information service, he said that he considered them normal. According to Gašpar, it is the basis of a democratic society and people can express their opinion in the streets. On the day of the protest, he only hung Slovak flags on the SIS building to show that he was protecting Slovak interests, he explained.
According to the director, the report on the coup that was supposed to take place in Slovakia was not only based on violent activity, but also discussed the economic aspect and other things. “When SIS discovers any facts that could threaten internal security, internal order and security of the state, the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic, it has an obligation to act,” says Gašpar.
He added that the service can then decide whether to forward the information to the law enforcement authorities, inform the legal recipients or take preventive measures. “Today, with the passage of time, I can confirm that we have already verified all the information that was given there, also in the form of foreign cooperation with partners. Several proceedings are being conducted at the level of law enforcement authorities,” said Gašpar.
