Slovak central bank chief appeals bribery conviction, lawyer says | World News

The central European country’s Specialised Criminal Court ruled in May that Kazimir must pay a 200,000-euro fine or face a one-year prison sentence.

Kazimir, who denies any wrongdoing, said immediately after his conviction that he would appeal the verdict, and his lawyer Ondrej Mularcik said on Wednesday the appeal had been filed with a higher court.

“The verdict is against the law and poorly justified,” Mularcik said. “We are disputing all judgements affecting our client as well as the preceding process.”

Kazimir is a member of the ECB’s rate-setting governing council. He was found guilty of – while serving as finance minister in 2012-19 – handing a 48,000-euro bribe to the head of the national tax administration for expediting tax rebates to several companies.

Kazimir’s six-year term expired at the beginning of June, but under Slovak law he remains at the helm of the central bank while politicians seek agreement on either offering him a new term or finding a replacement.

Slovak central bank governors are nominated by the Bratislava government, approved by parliament and appointed by the president.

Prime Minister Robert Fico has opposed nominating Kazimir for a second term, due to past decisions he saw as disloyal.

Kazimir was finance minister for Fico’s leftist SMER-SSD party but was close to current President Peter Pellegrini, who led a group that split away from SMER-SSD in 2020 to form a new party called Hlas-SD.

The two parties came together to form a governing coalition in 2023, but Fico has been at odds with Kazimir due to the party split. Hlas-SD has been supporting Kazimir.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.