UIS Rejects SaS Claims Regarding Abduction of Vietnamese National

Bratislava, 15 May (TASR) - The Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS) has rejected claims made by the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party regarding the alleged inactivity of an UIS investigator in the case involving the abduction of a Vietnamese national in 2017, TASR has reported based on a post published by UIS on social media on Friday. The UIS statement came after SaS held a press conference on this matter earlier on Friday, calling for a proper investigation into the abduction case. UIS considers it to be highly irresponsible to speak of doing nothing when no one except the supervising prosecutor and the UIS investigator has access to the file. "As the criminal investigation is at a non-public stage, it's not possible to disclose any details from the case file or the procedural steps taken by the UIS investigator under the prosecutor's supervision. Therefore, it's difficult to counter the lies that are being aired in the media environment," stressed UIS. The investigation is ongoing, stated UIS, adding that it's currently waiting for the legal assistance process to be completed by foreign judicial authorities, as regularly urged by Slovakia's judicial authorities. According to UIS, the completion of international legal assistance doesn't depend on Slovak authorities but on the country approached, as is the case here. "At the same time, we call on politicians from SaS, if they possess new information as stated in the title of their press conference, to visit UIS and provide this information to the investigator," said UIS. At a press conference on Friday, SaS called for a proper investigation into the abduction of a Vietnamese national back in 2017, urging Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka to deal with the case. The party's MPs believe that the case should be handled by the Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) of the Police Force Presidium rather than UIS. SaS MP Juraj Krupa pointed to findings in the case, mentioning, for example, that a visa was allegedly granted to the Vietnamese without anyone actually seeing him. In its response provided to TASR, the Prosecutor-General's Office stated that it wouldn't comment on the matter as the investigation is still ongoing. jrg/df