Ministry Files Lawsuit with Administrative Court Concerning Case of €70,000 Fine

Bratislava, 10 December (TASR) - The Interior Ministry is filing a lawsuit with the administrative court regarding a fine of €70,000 that was imposed on it by the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO), the Interior Ministry's strategic communications section has confirmed for TASR. "As in previous cases, the Interior Ministry is filing a lawsuit with the administrative court against this biased decision issued by the politicised UOO," stated the ministry. The ministry was fined for issuing a personnel order against a group of police officers without UOO's consent, even though the law obliged it to do so. According to the office, the ministry thereby committed an administrative offence. In its first-instance ruling, UOO stated that the personnel orders were issued at a time when individual whistleblowers had effective protection under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, as granted to them by a prosecutor. The personnel orders concerned the transfer of police officers to district police stations. According to media reports, these were the police officers known as the 'Curilla group'. The Interior Ministry appealed against this ruling, but UOO has confirmed it during appeal proceedings. UOO had previously imposed a fine of €90,000 on the Interior Ministry. After taking up office in 2023, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) suspended police officers centred around investigator Jan Curilla. However, UOO stated that, as the investigators had protected whistleblower status, the minister should have consulted this issue with it. ko/df