Vladimir Pčolinský, former head of the Slovak Information Service (SIS), was acquitted by the Specialized Criminal Court on Monday of allegations including bribery, abuse of power, and leaking confidential information.
Judge Rastislav Stieranka ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Pčolinský committed the offenses.
The charges were primarily based on testimonies from former SIS deputy director Boris Beni and ex-head of tax criminal investigations Ľudovít Mako, who cooperated with the prosecution during the trial.
Both witnesses claimed that Pčolinský received a bribe through them from businessman Zoroslav Kollár to stop investigations, wiretapping, and surveillance against Kollár. The prosecution alleged the bribe amounted to 20,000 euros (nearly half a million Czech crowns). However, the court found no conclusive proof that Pčolinský accepted the payment.
“I am not saying that Pčolinský is innocent, but the complicity—that is, participation in the criminal act by the defendant as described by the prosecutor in the indictment—was not proven,” said the judge.
Pčolinský, who was charged in 2021 while still leading SIS, resigned following the accusations. Although the General Prosecutor’s Office initially suspended the case via an extraordinary legal remedy, the police later reinstated the charges.
The prosecutor has appealed the verdict, so the final decision now rests with the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic.
In a related case, in May, Specialized Criminal Court Judge Milan Csisarik fined Peter Kažimír, head of Slovakia’s central bank, 200,000 euros for bribing a tax official.
