The Special Prosecutor’s Office officially closed on Wednesday due to the government’s controversial reforms to the country’s criminal code, as investigators used their last day to bring charges against a close associate of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

In passing the Criminal Code reform in February, the Slovak government decided to significantly reduce penalties and statutes of limitations for serious crimes and to abolish the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

Although President Zuzana Čaputová and the Slovak opposition succeeded in temporarily suspending major parts of the reform by referring it to the Constitutional Court for a constitutional review, the dismantling of the Special Prosecutor’s Office was not stopped.

The office, which oversaw the most serious cases of corruption, extremism, and terrorism, has now ceased to exist almost 20 years after it was set up in 2004.

“In recent years, my prosecutor colleagues took these cases to the highest floor of public life, which is, of course, the main reason for the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office,” said the departing Top Special Prosecutor, Daniel Lipšic at a press conference on Tuesday.

Under Lipšic, the office also oversaw the corruption case against Dušan Kováčik, the candidate of Fico’s left-wing populist party, Smer, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as the case against current Smer MP Tibor Gašpar.

On its last day, the office indicted Juraj Gedra, a close associate of Fico and head of the government office. Gedra is suspected of collusion in public procurement and breach of duty in managing foreign property.

Fico has been attacking Lipšic for years.

“We will take all the necessary steps for Daniel Lipšic to leave the Special Prosecutors Office, as he is a person who has no business there,” Fico said in December 2023, shortly after the plans for Criminal Code reform were introduced to the public.

The decision led to massive public protests and has been repeatedly criticised by the European Commission and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

In two letters seen by Euractiv Slovakia, the EU Commission warned Bratislava that some of the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code reform would “not be in conformity with the Directive on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests using criminal law” (PIF Directive).

It was also explicitly stated that the proposed abolition of the Special Prosecutor would have serious consequences for the EPPO, as it would mean a loss of expertise and efficiency in its cases.

The prosecutors from the Special Prosecutor’s Office will be reassigned to the various departments of the General Prosecutor’s Office in Slovakia. Cases where an indictment has been filed or where an indictment has been proposed should continue to be handled by their current prosecutors. Pre-trial cases will be distributed to regional prosecutors’ offices throughout the country.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)

Read more with Euractiv

EU elections: The Trio that will enter the ring for the Liberals

On Wednesday, the EU liberals will kick off their joint election campaign and present their three Franco-German lead candidates who will spearhead their campaign.