Slovakia: How not to fight corruption

Martin Simecka

Respekt (Czech Republic)

If your aim is to fight corruption, it’s best not to break any laws, said Martin Simecka. Defense Minister Lubomir Galko was fired last week after it emerged that he had ordered the wiretapping of calls between ministry officials and reporters. Military intelligence had apparently even set up a file, “code-named Lady,” on Prime Minister Iveta Radicova herself. “How could such a massive abuse of power have happened in a democratic system?”

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Galko sailed into office with the proclamation that he would “use all means” to fight corruption, and when Radicova denied him permission to expand military intelligence powers toward that end, he “apparently failed to catch her drift.” He saw himself as the one honest man battling “an octopus of corruption with tentacles everywhere.” It’s a tragedy, really: His hubris led him to defy the very constitution he thought he was defending. He’s now out. And Radicova has ordered the Justice Ministry to investigate the judges who authorized the wiretaps.

The scandal “has blown up to huge proportions” in Slovakia, as the transcripts of wiretapped conversations prove embarrassing to politicians and reporters alike. The takeaway from all this? “That the fight against corruption can sometimes be just as dangerous to democracy as corruption itself.”