Sutaj Estok: Police Set Up Investigative Team to Look into Pandemic Management

Bratislava, October 21 (TASR) - The Office for the Fight against Organised Crime (UBOK) is setting up an investigative team to look into the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) stated at a press conference on Monday. According to the minister, the team will focus on four areas. The first one will be the allocation of public funds for the establishment of mobile facilities for collecting samples. In his opinion, the process lacked transparency and the funds were allocated to individuals with ties to people who decided how the money would be distributed. The team will also look into what the minister called overpriced purchases of medical supplies. According to the minister, there was no public scrutiny and transparent competition of suppliers during the pandemic. The next area of investigation will be the purchase of vaccines, with the minister mentioning the procurement of Russian-made Sputnik V jabs as well as unused vaccines in this vein. Last but not least, the team will also investigate why the death toll in the country reached 20,000 victims. In the minister's opinion, the bereaved of the victims deserve to know who's politically and criminally responsible for the deaths of their relatives. Sutaj Estok noted that he expects other institutions to cooperate with the police, including government proxy for the review of the governance and resource management during the COVID-19 pandemic Peter Kotlar. The minister indicated that Kotlar will not serve directly on the team, however. zel/mcs