At the Specialized Criminal Court (ŠTS), Banská Bystrica workplace, a three-year trial in the Toll case, which concerns overpriced IT tenders for financial administration (FS) between 2013 and 2018, was concluded on Thursday. The final speech of the last of the six defendants, attorney Martin Bahleda, was heard, as well as the last word of the defendants. They all deny the guilt and ask to be acquitted. The verdict is to be announced by the senate on February 17.
The entrepreneur faces charges of breach of duty in the management of foreign property, machination in public procurement and public auction, legalization of proceeds from criminal activity and the crime of accepting a bribe Jozef Brhel, his son Jozef Brhel the Younger, former Secretary of State for the Ministry of Finance Radko Kuruc, lawyer Martin Bahleda, former FS representative Milan G. a entrepreneur Miroslav Slahučka.
Jozef Brhel once again reiterated that from the beginning it was a politically motivated process and that the entire Mýtnik case is about him only. He emphasized that his conscience is clear and he will calmly look all the judges straight in the eye. “I have not committed any crime nor have I ever had such an intention,” he underlined in the last word.
Jozef Brhel the younger stated that he did not miss a single day of the main hearing. According to him, the defense based on the facts not only refuted the prosecutor’s charge, but also pointed to the illegality. The indictment allegedly fell apart on the basis of witness statements or expert evidence and specific documents.
“The president of the senate, Ján Hrubala, did not allow me to present an objection of bias against him, which supports our thesis that he is not an unbiased judge. We claim from the beginning that he is biased and whatever the verdict will be, it will be unfair,” responded the defense attorney of Jozef Brhel and his son Michal Mandzák.
“After a difficult and lengthy trial, which was often challenged by the defendants, as well as today with objections of bias, statements about the political process, etc., nothing of what is alleged about the manipulation has been confirmed. They are such mantras and we have heard them so many times. Even today, they attacked the acting judge as being biased, I consider it a classic obstruction. We insist that the indictment is justified, therefore we expect the defendants to be convicted,” stated prosecutor Bohdan Čeľovský.
The prosecutor proposes an unconditional sentence in the lower half of the sentence for Jozef Brhel, as well as for his son and Martin Brhel. The other three defendants, Radek Kuruc, Milan G. and Miroslav Slahuček, are proposed to be given a suspended sentencey. He suggested imposing adequate monetary penalties on everyone according to their financial circumstances.
