Prime Minister’s Office: Golob will present the facts to the KPK and thereby disprove all suspicions

The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) is against the Prime Minister Robert Golob launched an investigation due to a perceived suspicion of a violation of integrity in connection with a report on the alleged unauthorized application of pressure on the former interior minister Tatjana Bobnar and other employees of the ministry. The commission decided on this at the beginning of November, and today the public was informed about who the person in question is.

As explained in the press release, the KPK introduced a preliminary examination in the case after the application received in December 2022. the commission detected a suspicion of a violation of integrity, as defined by the Act on Integrity and Prevention of Corruption,” they stated.

Prime Minister Robert Golob has received a notice from the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) about the initiation of an investigation into suspected violations of integrity, the Prime Minister’s Office announced. They announced that Golob will “present all relevant facts and thereby disprove all suspicions”.

Movement does not comment on the decision of the KPK

The Svoboda Movement does not comment on the KPK’s decision to launch an investigation against the prime minister and the party. Unofficially, they say that the KPK is an independent body, so they do not comment on ongoing procedures.

“If the KPK initiates procedures, this is an independent investigation and should remain so, so I absolutely cannot comment on this part. When the results are in, I will be able to comment on them. It is right that the investigation proceeds smoothly and independently,” responded the president of the SD coalition Tanja Fajon. She will not demand additional explanations from the truce, as it is not “in this job to demand additional explanations”.

“It is not pleasant for any politician. Every matter dealt with by the KPP must be taken seriously. But this will not represent an obstacle in the further operation of the government,” responded the Minister of Economy Matjaž Han.

“When the battle between Robert Golob and Tatjana Bobnar broke out, we called for the competent institutions to check the situation. The KPK is doing its job, so I urge everyone to wait and see what the results will be,” he says Matej Tašner Vatovec, leader of the Left MPs. He again described Bobnar’s accusations as quite worrying: “But as long as there are accusations, everyone has the right to present the other side of the story.”

Some of the complaints from the application are still being checked

The KPK Senate decided on the matter at a meeting on November 3. “He decided to launch an investigation into the case against Prime Minister Robert Golob, who thus became the person under consideration. The person in question has already received a notification about the initiation of the investigation, so the commission, due to the interest shown, is also informing the public about it,” they explained. They added that the investigation is continuing the procedure in part of the aforementioned application, while part of the allegations from the application are still being checked in the preliminary examination.

In doing so, they emphasize that only the further process will show whether perceived suspicions of violations will be confirmed or refuted. “The person in question is guaranteed all the rights in the procedure in accordance with the regulations, and within the framework of these, he will also have the opportunity to explain his actions,” they explained. Due to the interests of the process, they will be able to provide more information about the case when it is finished.

The KPK already announced on November 3 that the committee’s senate is made up of the two deputy presidents of the KPK, i.e. David Lapornik and Simon Savski, made a decision to initiate an investigation in the case of suspicions of pressure on Bobnarjeva. At that time, they announced that they would provide more information about the case when the persons in question were notified of the initiation of the investigation.

Chairman of the commission Robert Šumi excluded himself from the decision-making process in this case already in December last year, which he justified, among other things, by the fact that the police had a frozen employment contract and that he had a business connection with Bobnarjeva, with whom they had cooperated for several years, after the aforementioned meeting announced by the KPK.

Tatjana Bobnar announced the accusations of political pressure on the KPK police last December, when she also resigned from the position of interior minister. She spoke about these pressures again at a high-profile hearing before the parliamentary commission investigating impermissible political interference in the work of the police and other competent state bodies. At that time, she emphasized again that she was subject to political pressure from Prime Minister Robert Golob, which later led to her resignation.