Slovenia police reject accusations of Patria information leak

Information on NBI list came to police from journalists

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Police in Slovenia reject accusations from Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that the Slovenian police would have leaked information on the investigation into alleged bribery linked with Slovenia’s plans to purchase armoured vehicles manufactured by the Finnish company Patria.
      Kaj Björkqvist, head of the NBI investigation, said on Monday that Slovenian police had not delivered the information requested by the NBI, and had leaked information that it had received from the Finnish police. The alleged leaked information is believed to be a list onto which the NBI had placed the names of 27 people believed to be relevant to the investigation.
     The Slovenian police tossed the ball back into the Finnish court with a statement that they first learned about the list from the local media.
     “The media reported on the existence of a list of names in early August, when - according to the reports - Finnish investigators neither denied nor confirmed the existence of a list. The Slovenian police did not get the list of persons sought by Finnish investigators until August the 18th.”
     
Slovenia’s Minister of the Interior Dragutin Mate commented on the matter to Helsingin Sanomat: “It seems that someone wants to create a situation in which we do not believe each other. We hope that cooperation will continue."
     However, many Slovenian journalists still apparently believe that the country’s police did not behave correctly. Reporters grilled police force commander Joze Romšek on Tuesday above all because the police had not reacted to a request put to them through Interpol by Austrian police.
     The request stated that an Austrian-Slovenian businessman who had served as an intermediary in the sale of Patria armoured vehicles to Slovenia, was suspected of money laundering.
     According to Joze Romšek, an internal investigation within the police has been launched over the matter.
     
Slovenia’s Parliament convened in a special session on Tuesday over the Patria scandal. The initiative came from the government coalition of Prime Minister Janez Janša, which gave the opposition and critical media outlets a reason to see the televised debate as a mere election gimmick by the government parties.
     “Janša is pretending to be a victim”, said opposition Parliamentarian Milan Cvikl, who headed the Parliamentary commission set up to investigate the Patria affair. The commission was later disbanded.
     No powerful emotions were shown in the session. About a quarter of the country’s 90 Members of Parliament were absent from the session.
     Prime Minister Janša, who has been dogged by accusations of bribery, called for an end to harping on the matter, and said that the ongoing election campaign should focus on more important issues.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Slovenian Prime Minister denies being offered bribes (9.9.2008)
  Slovenia threatens to suspend Patria deal (8.9.2008)
  Slovenia sends diplomatic note to Finland over YLE bribery allegations (5.9.2008)
  Slovenian government intends to sue YLE management over Patria bribery claims (4.9.2008)
  Patria CEO resigns amid ongoing NBI probes into bribery allegations (19.8.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat