Through Resolution in House, Coalition Wants to Respond to Kiska's Case Verdict

Bratislava, November 5 (TASR) - Coalition MPs want to push through a resolution in Parliament that responds to the circumstances of former president Andrej Kiska's tax case and the final verdict in this case, representatives of Smer-SD, Voice-SD and the Slovak National Party (SNS) stated at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that they want to condemn some of Kiska's actions at the time when he committed the tax fraud, but also after the verdict was handed down. According to Parliamentary Vice-Chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), the ex-president should apologise to all citizens of Slovakia for "lying during the election campaign and obtaining the office of president by deception". In his opinion, he should also apologise to all the opposing candidates because it was an unfair competition. "With the final conviction, we learnt that he spent additional money that he wanted to charge to KTAG, and thus he deceived all citizens of Slovakia during the election campaign and, of course, he unfairly competed with the other counter-candidates in this competition," said Gaspar. Through the resolution, the coalition wants to point out that Kiska's actions have a society-wide dimension. On October 31, Kiska was found guilty of tax fraud by Presov Region Court and given a suspended sentence of one year with two years of probation. The verdict is final. In response, Kiska stated that the incumbent government is threatening inconvenient judges with disciplinary motions and so the judges have been seized by fear. The case revolves around Kiska's 2013-14 presidential campaign costs, which Kiska put on the books of his company KTAG. The firm subsequently filed an illicit claim for a VAT refund, thus causing the state financial damages of about €155,000. Kiska announced he will file a special motion with the Supreme Court. am/mcs