Kalinak: House in Croatia Not in Property Declaration to Protect Family Privacy

Bratislava, March 14 (TASR) - Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) in a video posted on a social network has said that he didn't list real estate bought by his wife in Croatia in her property declaration, as he wanted to protect his family's privacy. Kalinak claims that his income fully covers the value of this piece of real estate and that his family was able to afford the house in Croatia due to his many years of business activities. "After returning to politics, I decided not to include information about the real estate in Croatia in my wife's property declaration in order to protect my family's privacy," said Kalinak, claiming that opposition politicians have invaded this privacy. "My decision to proceed in this way with the property declaration was absolutely correct, as I was only protecting a higher interest in line with the Constitution," claimed Kalinak, adding that information about family and children should not be disclosed by law for the sake of privacy protection. According to Kalinak, House committee for conflicts of interest chair Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia' party, For the People, the Christian Union/KU) has misused her post, as she revealed information from the confidential part of the property declaration. The minister said that his wife decided to buy a more than 50-year-old house in Croatia more than six years ago. He pointed out that he's been doing business for over 30 years and continued to do so after quitting politics in 2018. During his political career, he published property declarations in which he declared incomes worth several million euros. "However, today I learned that after years of doing business and being called one of the richest politicians, my family shouldn't have enough money to buy real estate in Croatia, like many other Slovaks do," stated Kalinak. Lawmakers from the 'Slovakia' party, For the People and the KU caucus on Thursday (March 13) announced that they will file a complaint with the House committee for conflicts of interest over the property declaration submitted by Kalinak, and they began collecting signatures among the opposition parties to attempt his ouster. Remisova said that Kalinak failed to list the house in Croatia in his property declaration for 2023. ko/df