The SITA agency stated that according to the proposal, the governor should serve his sentence in a minimum security prison. The proposal also contains a ban on holding public office for a period of five years. Kažimír is charged with the fact that, at the turn of 2017 and 2018, he should have given a bribe of 48,000 euros (1.2 million crowns) to the former head of the financial administration, František Imrecz, for securing excessive value-added tax deductions for several companies.
Kažimír’s defense attorneys filed a motion to stop the prosecution due to the statute of limitations, but Judge Milan Cisárik said that he would not rule on the motion at this stage. According to the judge, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic could have decided to stop the criminal proceedings, but it did not do so. Cisárik admitted that there are different opinions on how the recent amendment of the Slovak Criminal Code affected the issue of the statute of limitations.
According to prosecutor Petr Mikuláš, during the investigation, the defendant’s guilt was unequivocally proven by direct and indirect evidence. He mentioned the statements of Imrecze, who admitted to accepting a bribe from Kažimír, and other former representatives of the financial administration, Lenka Wittenbergerová and Daniel Čech. “A lot of documentary evidence was also secured so that the matter was documented comprehensively and objectively,” said Mikuláš.
Governor’s immunity
However, according to Pravda daily, the NBS governor is protected from prison by European legislation, and the Court of Justice of the European Union can intervene in the case, which can annul the decision of the Slovak courts.
“Immunity for heads of national banks follows directly from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Based on it, the members of the bodies of the European Central Bank (ECB) are not subject to any form of investigation, detention or prosecution in relation to the opinions expressed or voting in the performance of their official duties and tasks. Kažimír is on the ECB’s Board of Governors, so this rule also applies to him,” the letter said.
Kažimír’s term of office ends on June 1, 2025, and together with his mandate, his gubernatorial immunity also ends.
Between 2012 and 2019, Kažimír was the Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic for the Direction-Social Democracy party in the governments of Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Petr Pellegrini.