GP: It's not possible to suspend Dobroslav Trnka now

It is not legally possible to suspend the tenure of prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka at the moment, seeing that no criminal charges have been pressed against him so far, said Prosecutor-General's Office spokesperson Andrea Predajnova on Monday, hours after the Denník N daily published excerpts of a recording of an alleged conversation between controversial businessman Marián Kočner and former prosecutor general Dobroslav Trnka. They allegedly discussed blackmailing Jaroslav Haščák, head of the Penta financial group and how Haščák and Kočner bribed MPs to vote for Trnka, so that he could be re-elected as the Prosecutor General. However, Trnka was not elected due to one missing vote. The Prosecutor-General's Office spokesperson said that it was not possible to apply a disciplinary motion because the activity discussed in the recording is already subject to the statute of limitations. She added that all requests raised by the investigator to release Trnka from confidentiality have been accommodated. The Council of Prosecutors, however, considers the revelations to be so serious that it is not allowing the former Prosecutor General to continue to act as Prosecutor at least until an investigation into the matter is finished," the Council said in a statement.