Parliament: PS and SaS Call on Government and President to Dismiss Gaspar

Bratislava, 17 September (TASR) - Opposition MPs from Progressive Slovakia (PS) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) urged the government and President Peter Pellegrini to dismiss the head of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) Pavol Gaspar following the session of the House committee for supervising the SIS held on Wednesday, saying that Gaspar was not able to answer their questions on his recent traffic accident and was arrogant. "Answers such as 'I am a free man, an ordinary man, I can do what I want in my free time' show a complete lack of understanding of the responsibility that comes with his position as head of the SIS," said SaS MP Maria Kolikova, adding that Gaspar questioned the reports that the perpetrator of the bomb threats against Slovak schools, who was detained in Ukraine, had links to Russia. Zuzana Stevulova (PS) pointed out that the committee could not assess cooperation between the SIS and foreign intelligence services based on the information provided by Gaspar, adding that his behaviour was arrogant, whether in public or at a closed committee meeting. After the session, Gaspar has denied any wrongdoing and says he intends to provide explanations regarding the traffic accident and property declarations to a different House committee. Committee vice-chair Peter Suca (Smer-SD) said that he has full confidence in SIS head, noting he did not ask Gašpar about his accident because he was satisfied with the statement issued for the media shortly afterwards. He added that the committee for supervising the SIS is not competent to examine the property of any constitutional official. jrg