On Monday, the trial with the people accused of murdering investigative journalist Ján Kuciak continued. Zoltán Andruskó, who was already sentenced as a go-between who agreed on a plea bargain in the case in December 2019 said in the court that even the controversial entrepreneur Norbert Bödör tried to wipe evidence in the case.
According to Andruskó, a certain Dušan Kracina visited him in autumn 2018, allegedly acting on behalf of Bödör, to tell him that a frontman who would confess to the murder was being sought in Hungary. The group controlling this frontman would then have received €1 million from entrepreneur Marian Kočner, who is now standing trial for ordering the murder, said Andrusko. According to him, the plan was to invent a story to involve some entrepreneurs from eastern Slovakia in the plot. The story would have revolved around the blackmail of these entrepreneurs by Zlatica Kusnirova, the mother of Kuciak's fiancee Martina Kusnirova, concerning archaeological research carried out by the latter. "I have not said that so far, because I was afraid of these people," said Andruskó. Bödör was taken into custody earlier this month after being accused of money laundering in a large corruption case.
Investigative journalist Ján Kuciak was murdered with his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018. Before his death, Kuciak wrote about the businessman Marián Kočner, alleged links between the Italian mafia, leading Slovak politicians and the Slovak police as well as about frauds related to the use of EU funds. After his death, Prime Minister Robert Fico, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák and President of the Police Corps Tibor Gašpar and even other people from the police and justice system stepped down.
