PM: Police Act and Must Act Independently, Regardless of Election Campaign

Bratislava, August 12 (TASR) - Law-enforcement authorities, including the police, act and must act independently, regardless of whether or not elections or election campaigns are held in this country, caretaker Premier Ludovit Odor said on Saturday in connection with the detention of former police chief Tibor G. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons), who is running for Smer-SD in the September general election. "The police and the prosecutor's office will explain their actions to the public in a credible manner as soon as the situation allows for it. The premier is in no way informed about live cases beyond the scope of the law, nor does he intervene in them in any way," said Odor in a statement sent to TASR by his spokesman Peter Majer. Odor stressed that the caretaker government does not divide the world in Slovakia into coalition or opposition. "We primarily focus on addressing problems that threaten the success of people in our country and the country as such. And it's quite a lot of such problems here," stated the premier. Smer-SD leader Robert Fico on Saturday reiterated his claims that the premier and President Zuzana Caputova knew about Tibor G.'s detention in advance and gave their consent to it. Both of them are denying it. Fico has called on them to halt the "circus" around Tibor G.'s detention. Tibor G. was detained on suspicion of corruption under Operation Ezekiel 7 in Nitra region early on Friday (August 11) morning. An investigator of the National Crime Agency (NAKA) on Saturday filed a motion to take Tibor G. and Roman S. into custody. Nitra-based oligarch Norbert B. has been reportedly charged as well. ko