Court: ANS President Petko Fined €10,000 for Bribery

Bratislava, March 10 (TASR) - President of the Slovak Hospitals Association (ANS) and Bardejov Hospital director Marian Petko has been sentenced to a fine of €10,000 by the Supreme Court for receiving a bribe, with the threat of ten months in jail if he fails to pay up, spokesperson of the Supreme Court Alexandra Vazanova confirmed for TASR on Monday. It was Dennik N daily that broke the news first. "The senate embraced the conclusions of the Specialised Criminal Court in this case. In accordance with the Penal Code amendment, in effect as of August 6, 2024, however, the legal qualifications and sentencing were altered in favour of the defendants," said the spokesperson. Two other defendants were also found guilty and given fines of €5,000 and €3,000, respectively. According to the court, in 2005-2009 the defendants took bribes, even in the form of construction work and real-estate material supplies, in exchange for assigning hospital construction projects to specific firms, thus causing damages of more than €621,000. Petko was originally sentenced in December 2022 by the Specialised Criminal Court to a suspended sentence of two years with three years of probation and a fine of €15,000. mf/df