The expert report which was to quantify the damage in criminal proceedings in the case of the overpriced CT scanner bought by a public hospital in Piešťany is unusable. Such conclusions justify the annulment of charges against those involved, according to Prosecutor General Jaromír Čižnár. In a resolution on the abolition of charges that the Prosecutor General's Office announced on Monday on its website, Čižnár expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the Institute of Forensic Engineering (IFE) in Žilina. He shares the objections of the accused which attacked the work of the Institute. Experts have determined that the purchase of equipment caused the hospital damages amounting to €471,001. The Prosecutor General does not like that in determining the comparative sample, experts used price relations from the Czech Republic, not Slovakia. In 2014, the hospital bought a Philips Ingenuity Core 128 CT scanner with other related services for €1.5 million, including VAT. A doctor and nurse from the hospital raised concerns about the fact that the price was almost double that of the normal market rate. The scandal led to the resignation of then Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenská.
The Prosecutor General's announcement triggered plenty of criticism. "People shouldn't pretend that everything has been put in order. The case must be treated with a clear mind, without speculations and assumptions ", said the Chairman of the Parliamentary Health Committee Štefan Zelník (Slovak National Party/SNS). He wants to hear out committee member MP Alan Suchánek (OLaNO-NOVA). Suchánek, who is the doctor who drew attention to the overpriced CT scanner, will ask the Health Committee to summon Prosecutor General Jaromír Čižnár to explain the decision of the Prosecutor-General's Office. He is sure that the Prosecutor-General's Office has swept the case under the rug when cancelling all nine accusations.Začiatok formuláraSpodná časť formulára The Prosecutor-General's Office will publish its decision on the scrapping of charges against all people involved in the Piešťany Hospital CT scanner scandal to prove that it hasn't swept the case under the rug, its spokesperson Andrea Predajňová told TASR press agency on Monday. "We underline that prosecution in the case continues, and it isn't ruled out that charges against specific people will be pressed anew in the future, if additional facts justify such an approach", added Predajňová.
