How will the wave of arrests end?
Since the general election, the police have arrested 14 judges from Bratislava and Žilina, ex-Deputy Justice Minister Monika Jankovská, Marian Kočner, Norbert Bödör (Robert Fico friend), Martin Kvietik (Andrej Danko friend), ex-chief of state reserves Kajetán Kičura, and high-ranking policemen Róbert Krajmer, Ľudovít Makó and Pavol Vorobjov. Access to Marian Kočner’s smartphone was crucial, but the exit of corrupt policemen and judges was instrumental. Rank-and-file policemen no longer need to tread carefully around sensitive cases. Still, the capacity of police and prosecutors to deal with sophisticated corruption schemes remains limited and it remains to be seen whether the key sponsors of corruption from the Smer and SNS parties are prosecuted. There are some positive signs―František Tóth has already started to cooperate with the police in the case of corruption at the Žilina courts, and Makó and Jankovská are allegedly also considering cooperation in return for lenient treatment.
