Slovak PM urges ECB's Kazimir to quit after bribery conviction

By Robert Muller

(Reuters) -Slovakia's prime minister called on Thursday on the head of the country's central bank, Peter Kazimir, to resign after he was convicted in a bribery case and fined 100,000 euros ($110,000).

Kazimir, a European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker who is currently attending World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings in the United States, denied wrongdoing.

The case concerns "suspicion of corrupt criminal activity in connection with tax audits against several commercial companies" when Kazimir was finance minister in a previous government, prosecutors said in February.

Following Thursday's ruling against him by a criminal court judge in the town of Pezinok, Kazimir should walk out of the National Bank of Slovakia's doors and "never come back", Prime Minister Eduard Heger said.

"It is unacceptable for a person convicted of bribery by a court to hold the post of governor of this respected institution," Heger told a news conference in front of the bank's headquarters.

The European Central Bank and the National Bank of Slovakia both declined to comment.

The court's ruling was made by a criminal warrant - based on evidence submitted during the investigation - and not in a full trial.

The decision was for the crime of bribery, the court said, adding that it had not taken legal effect pending possible appeals.

"Despite the criminal warrant, which has not even been delivered to me yet, I am innocent," Kazimir said in a statement.

"I have committed no crime and I have no doubt that I will defend myself before the judge at the main hearing or before the courts of appeal in Slovakia or in Europe."

He now faces a full trial after prosecutors said they had appealed the court ruling, which was delivered on April 3 and made public on Thursday.

The special prosecutor's office had charged Kazimir with a "corruption-related crime" in October 2021, but withdrew the charge last June pending a review. Slovak police revived the charge last November.

A final conviction could cost Kazimir his position, which he has held since 2019 under a six-year mandate.

Under Slovak central bank statutes, board members can continue to serve with a criminal record provided that record is clear of "final convictions for a deliberate crime".

Central bank governors are appointed and dismissed by the president and subject to approval by parliament.

Kazimir was finance minister from 2012 to 2019 before being nominated as central bank governor by the leftist SMER party that lost power in 2020.

($1 = 0.9074 euros)

(Reporting by Robert Muller, Jason Hovet and Jan Lopatka in Prague; additional reporting by Balasz Koranyi in Washington; editing by Alison Williams, Mark Heinrich, Kirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)