Sikuta: Files Allocated at Supreme Court in Transparent Way

Bratislava, April 24 (TASR) - The allocation of files at the Supreme Court is okay, with files being allocated in line with the rules of transparency, said Supreme Court chair Jan Sikuta in reaction to Premier Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) statement made earlier on Wednesday. Sikuta strongly objected to Fico's accusations and called the Justice Ministry's inspection at the court arrogant and non-standard. "I must absolutely and resolutely deny the claim that the Supreme Court refused to cooperate in any way, including the cooperation with the Justice Ministry in the case of doubts regarding the allocation of files in question," said Sikuta. He declared that the court is any time ready to be helpful and to provide relevant cooperation in specific cases in which there are suspicions of possible misconduct. "There's need to say that the Justice Ministry employees refused to say what particular files they are interested in," he added. According to Sikuta, the ministry representatives during the inspection requested a complete database of the information system, which has no basis in law. "It's unthinkable for the Justice Ministry to come and take the whole database of the Supreme Court.... It includes all the files including personal data, testimonies and everything that is in the file," noted Sikuta, adding that he as the court chairman has certain responsibilities. The ministry's approach in this matter is unprecedented, stated the Supreme Court chair. The premier on Wednesday called on Supreme Court chairman Jan Sikuta to provide information on how files in the most sensitive political cases were redistributed through the information system between 2020 and 2023. He claimed that the court employees refused to provide the information concerning the system to the Justice Ministry during the inspection. ko/mcs