Bratislava, January 27 (TASR) - A transcript of numerous short text messages exchanged between Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) chairman Richard Sulik and businessman Marian Kocner entitled as 'Sasanka' (Anemone) appeared on the internet on Thursday on the same website as the notorious 'Gorilla' document.
Sulik confirmed Friday that he used to meet Kocner at that time, but he doesn't remember the exact wording of the messages they sent to each other.
"I meet a lot of people. I've known Mr. Kocner for many years ... I've met Mr. Kocner several times, but we haven't seen each other for more than a year now," said Sulik, adding that he also informed Prime Minister Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS) about their meetings.
According to Sulik, the aim of the meetings was to gain information from the businessman. The value of the information went down as time went, so Sulik stopped seeing Kocner eventually, he claims.
Sulik wasn't able to specify the source of the SMS leak. "It's nothing new for me that I've been wiretapped and watched," said Sulik.
The 'Sasanka' transcript supposedly dates back to September-December 2010. The messages indicate that Sulik as then-Parliamentary Chairman discussed current political issues – namely the SaS's referendum and selection of the prosecutor-general – with Kocner, who has played pivotal roles in some of the major events in Slovak history. For example, Kocner was an accomplice of son of former president Michal Kovac in 1995 and led the armed siege of the TV Markiza building in 1998 that led to wholesale management changes at the station.
The attached conclusion of the document states that it could have been SaS MPs that voted for Dobroslav Trnka, a candidate for prosecutor-general, who gained the support of 74 MPs in December 2010 (being one vote short of being elected).
"Promoting Jozef Centes as the joint Coalition candidate for prosecutor-general only seems to be SaS's cover-up of the real interests of this political entity and its chairman in this connection," Sasanka reads. One of the motives allegedly may have been to replace Premier Radicova, who promised to step down if Trnka is elected.
SaS denies the conclusions of the document. "SaS has always backed Prime Minister [Radicova], even in situations when her own party [SDKU-DS] didn't," said Sulik.
gk/tm
