Slovakia: Central bank governor and ECB board member accused of bribery

For corruption the governor of its central bank is accused Slovakia and a member of its board of directors European Central Bank, Peter Casimir, who denies any wrongdoing.

«I do not feel guilty about any crimeSaid Kazimir, who served as finance minister before taking over as central bank governor in 2019, in an email statement. According to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, there had been reports in the media that accusations had been made against him.

The Slovak news website aktuality, citing numerous unnamed sources, stressed that charges had been brought against Kazimir in a case related to a alleged bribery of the former head of the country’s tax authorities, who has been charged in several cases and is now cooperating with the investigating authorities.

Casimir’s lawyer, Andrei Mularcik, confirmed in a telephone interview with Reuters that they had been brought against the client categories for corruption, saying he would challenge them, but gave no further details.

“The facts contained in the indictment are untrue and the reasoning itself lacks corroborative evidence,” Casimir said. “I have no information, I do not know that I violated the law, nor did I ever have any interest in influencing any process,” he said.

The members of the Governing Council of the ECB may be dismissed if convicted of a serious misconduct or if the authorities provide sufficient evidence that they have committed such misconduct.

The ECB declined to comment.

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