The police on Tuesday reported that they pressed charges against Kajetan Kicura, who was dismissed from the post of State Material Reserves Administration chief in late March. Kicura was charged with the particularly serious crime of accepting a bribe and the particularly serious crime of legalising the proceeds of criminal activity.
In March, Prime Minister Igor Matovic suggested firing Kajetan Kicura from his then-position as he didn't have the confidence of the Goverment. Matovic criticized Kicura for allegedly overpriced test kits for coronavirus, a discrepancy in the number of ordered kits, and the fact that Kicura concluded two contracts for €35,000,000 with a company which at the time had had a turnover of only €74,000. "We consider his actions to be uneconomical, out of line with the public interest, directly endangering the public interest, and directly endangering the health of the population," said Matovic. Reacting to the Prime Minister's criticism, Kicura admitted that a mistake had been made when purchasing the rapid test kits, but claimed that this could be fixed. He saw no other failure in his actions.
On 21st April, the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) carried out detaining activities in connection with corruption offences from the environment of the State Material Reserves Administration. As part of the operation, it also carried out a search of Kicura's house. "The search is related to suspicions of machinations in public procurement," reported Dennik N. The same day, the Special Prosecutor's Office Pressed Charges against Kicura and on Wednesday submitted a request to issue an agreement to remand him in custody to the Prosecutor-General.
