- The opposition criticizes the alleged wiretapping of deputies by the secret service.
- The Committee of the NR SR assessed the suggestions and called them false.
- MP Juraj Krúpa expressed concern about possible eavesdropping of MPs.
- Pavol Gašpar rejects accusations of bullying in SIS.
The Director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) Pavol Gašpar rejects suspicions of bullying members of the secret service. The vice-chairman of the Special Control Committee of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic for control of SIS activities, Peter Šuca (Smer-SD), does not consider them true after the committee’s deliberations and listening to Gašpar. The opposition continues to criticize the secret service and is afraid of eavesdropping on its members.
“In general, I can characterize both initiatives, whether the first or the second, as content-incompatible with objective reality. In connection with these initiatives, the SIS files criminal reports so that all of these circumstances are properly checked, also in relation to the possible misuse of information and technical means or other circumstances that are mentioned in those initiatives,” declared Gašpar.
The deputy chairman of the committee Šuca does not consider the information from the secret service to be true. “We can check, we are not an investigative committee,” he added.
The member of the National People’s Republic of Slovakia, Juraj Krúpa (SaS), also tried to get to the committee’s meeting. who is not its member. He justified this by saying that he had information about his alleged wiretapping. They did not allow him to participate in the committee meeting. He considers it normal to be able to participate in the committee if he has information that concerns him and SIS. “I have the right to ask, as a member of parliament, as a constitutional official, an official who is the director of SIS, what he is doing,” he declared. He also mentioned that he has a background check and can familiarize himself with classified facts.
“They weren’t credible explanations to me, they weren’t at all,” declared after the committee’s deliberations, a member of the NR SR Mária Kolíková (SaS). As she added, the MPs can see from the documents that the suspicions of practices in the SIS concern MP Krúp. “There is a fundamental suspicion that the communication with Juraj Krúp, which is from the year x, because it is a communication from 2019, appears to have been the subject of perhaps some questioning of the member in question,” said Kolíková.
A member of the NR SR is also suspected of eavesdropping František Majerský (KDH). “We have no way to verify that we are being eavesdropped or not. Because when we ask the question, he will tell us that it is a classified fact. So how can I verify whether we or colleagues from the opposition parties are being eavesdropped?” Majerský asked.
Opposition committee member Zuzana Števulová (PS) announced that the committee meeting will continue on Wednesday (December 10). He plans to present a draft inspection plan to the Secret Service committee. On Friday (December 5) Števulová stated that in the event that such an inspection plan is not adopted, the opposition MPs will initiate the inspection.
The former director of the National Security Analytical Center, Juraj Kulik, stated in media appearances that SIS bullies and eavesdrops on inconvenient employees. At the same time, MP Števulová received an anonymous letter from employees of the secret service, in which they describe the functioning of the SIS. They complained, for example, that the SIS leadership has limited the elaboration of the Russian secret services and focuses on allied services.
