Police: UBOK Carrying Out Raids in Connection with Donor Team

Bratislava, 18 June (TASR) - The Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) is carrying out several detention and seizure operations throughout Slovakia in connection with the Donor (Darca) team on Wednesday, Peter Habara of the Police Corps Presidium's communications department has informed TASR. A criminal investigation into the case was initiated by a prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). Several media outlets have reported that there has been an effort to detain extra-parliamentary 'Democrats' party chief and former defence minister Jaroslav Nad in this connection. "An EPPO prosecutor has reserved the exclusive right to inform the public about the criminal proceedings," stated Habara, adding that the police will provide no more details on the case at this stage. The 'Democrats' party has organised a press conference for Wednesday afternoon in order to comment in more detail on the media reports about the efforts to detain its chairman. Before announcing the press conference, the party provided its position to TASR. "The chairman of Democrats is on a long-planned foreign trip to Canada. As soon as he returns, he will, as always, fully cooperate with the law-enforcement authorities," said party chairperson Martina Kakascikova. A special investigation team called 'Donor' was formed at UBOK in November 2024. Its formation was instigated by a Supreme Audit Office (NKU) report. NKU in its findings stated that Slovakia has donated military assets worth almost €700 million to Ukraine since the outbreak of the military conflict. The audit revealed discrepancies in the data on the donated property reported by the Defence Ministry and by the General Staff. At the same time, auditors found a difference between the amount of aid approved by the government and the value of the property ultimately donated to Ukraine. Nad in the past has denied any accusations against himself or the government in which he served. "We didn't commit any crimes, we didn't act immorally, we did everything as we were supposed to do," he said. ko/df