SaS: Police Have Accepted Our Complaint about Ambulance Tender

Bratislava, 26 February (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party claims that the police have accepted its criminal complaint regarding the tender for operating ambulance emergency medical service units for further proceedings, MP Tomas Szalay (SaS) announced at a press conference on Thursday. "On Wednesday (25 February) I was officially informed ... that this criminal complaint had been referred to the anti-corruption unit of the Office for the Fight Against Organised Crime of the Police Corps Presidium, western branch. In other words, it's been accepted for further proceedings, it hasn't been shelved, the police are dealing with it. I consider this to be an important moment in the development of this case," he stated. Szalay filed the criminal complaint over suspicions of misuse of power by a public official and obstruction of an official decision on 14 January. At Thursday's press conference he again criticised the decisions and steps of Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) with respect to the tender. "The fact that a specialised police unit is dealing with such a case suggests that questions surrounding the ambulance tender have not disappeared and that this case may have, and I think will have, criminal-law consequences," he said. Szalay called on the ministry to cooperate fully with investigators. He also urged Sasko to publish the legal analysis on which he relied when cancelling the tender. The tender for operating ambulance emergency medical service units was announced by the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre in May 2025. The opposition as well as part of the coalition criticised the tender for a lack of transparency. The Operations Centre cancelled it in August. In November, Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka reported that the ministry had acted in breach of the law and filed prosecutor's protests. The ministry did not comply, so Zilinka filed 32 administrative lawsuits regarding the matter. The ministry insists that the ambulance tender was cancelled lawfully and that the subsequent decisions to discontinue the proceedings were also lawful. It is ready to defend its legal opinion before the administrative court. mf/df