Premier: We Haven't Filed Any Complaint with Police over Election Interference

Bratislava, 10 April (TASR) - I haven't filed any complaint with the police regarding allegations of interference in the 2023 parliamentary elections, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) at a press conference on Friday, adding that this doesn't mean that influence wasn't exerted through the British Foreign Office. "We didn't report this incident to the police or the prosecutor's office; we introduced a new criminal offence in the Criminal Code shortly afterwards via an amendment," stated Fico, adding that this new criminal offence doesn't apply to the suspected election interference in 2023, as a prohibition on retroactivity applies. "Don't ask me about any police report; it doesn't bother me at all. I don't even understand what the police were actually investigating. No criminal offence existed at that time," he told reporters. "We didn't claim that it was a criminal offence. We're saying that there was interference by a foreign state - the United Kingdom - via a specific institution," said the premier, noting that just because the police reject a complaint, it doesn't mean that the whole matter is done and dusted. The police confirmed for TASR that an investigator from the Office for Combating Organised Crime has issued a decision on the matter, but that it hasn't yet become final. "Given the current status of the proceedings, it isn't possible to provide further details commensurate with the current status of the proceedings. Nor is it possible to list the specific reasons that led to the decision in question being issued," stated the communications department of the Police Corps Headquarters. Last summer, the prime minister made statements based on media reports about a case in which, according to him, the UK Foreign Office was allegedly paying influencers via a media agency to influence the 2023 Slovak parliamentary elections to the detriment of Smer-SD and in favour of Progressive Slovakia (PS). The British Foreign Office denied that the United Kingdom was attempting to influence the election results or to encourage voting for or against a specific political party. am/df