Police officers from the National Crime Agency (NAKA) operating under an investigation team called Fog arrested 13 judges on Wednesday morning, the agency reported on a social network. The Fog team swooped down on judges that were mentioned in crooked businessman Marian Kočner's communications via the encrypted Threema app. Those arrested have been taken to the NAKA office in Nitra.
According to information published by the SME daily and tvnoviny.sk websites, those detained include judges Monika Jankovska, Andrea Haitova, Miriam Repakova, Zuzana Maruniakova and Supreme Court Vice-chair Jarmila Urbancova. Meanwhile, tvnoviny.sk has reported that Bratislava I District Court former judge Vladimir Sklenka is not among the detained. He is reported to have been cooperating with the police. Sklenka exchanged thousands of messages via Threema with Kočner.
"We won't comment on this at the moment as it regards ongoing criminal proceedings," stated Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) spokeswoman Jana Tokolyova. At the moment no further information on the detained judges is available from Bratislava District and Regional Courts.
Monika Jankovska is a former state secretary of the Justice Ministry for Smer-SD, as well as being a judge for Bratislava Regional Court. Jankovska exchanged thousands of messages with Marian Kočner via Threema. Their communications concerned a large number of cases, including the TV Markiza promissory notes, for which Kočner was recently convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison. The communications indicate that through Jankovska, Kočner was influencing judges Cvikova, Maruniakova and Haitova.
Meanwhile, the Fog team investigator has accused Marian Kočner of bribing the judges, as was confirmed by Kočner's defense lawyer Marek Para. The lawyer added that it was a relatively large-scale resolution and he must study it before commenting on it further. Marian K. refused to testify.
