In Toll Collector Case NAKA Pressed Charges against Jozef B. Jr., Jozef B.'s Son

Bratislava, November 11 (TASR) - The National Crime Agency (NAKA) has pressed charges in the Toll Collector case against Jozef B. Jr. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons), the son of the already accused Jozef B., TASR has been confirmed by the Prosecutor-general's Office on Thursday. Joseph B. Jr. is charged with the crime of money laundering. It was the news website Aktuality.sk that broke the news first. "A NAKA investigator filed charges against J.B. in the Toll Collector case on October 27 for the act legally considered a continuing particularly serious crime of money laundering. The act was allegedly committed in a more serious way through an organised group," added spokesman for the Prosecutor-general's Office Dalibor Skladan. Jozef B. Sr. was detained and accused in the Toll Collector operation in January. As part of the NAKA operation, his brother Peter B., ex-head of Financial Administration Frantisek I., former head of Financial Administration's IT section Milan G. and managing director of an IT company called Allexis, Jana R., were also charged. All of the accused face charges of machinations in public procurement and of corruption. Prosecutor-general Maros Zilinka later ruled that the criminal prosecution of Peter B. was unjustified due to an absence of evidence. Jozef B. has often been designated by the media as an eminence grise who operated behind the scenes of policy-making under Robert Fico's governments, although Jozef B. has denied being a sponsor of either Smer-SD or the breakaway Voice-SD. am/mcs