In last week’s extensive article entitled Pressures on Slovenia, Which Are Not Discussed Publicly (www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/pritiski-na-slovenijo-o-katerih-se-na-glas-ne-govori-81803.html), the leading newspaper (Delo) disclosed the continuous and ever greater pressures on Slovenia to withdraw from the investigation of these acts, despite reasonable grounds for suspecting that in the fall of 2013 the then heads of the Bank of Slovenia committed a number of crimes in the process of expropriating NLB Bank investors (VIDEO). What is more, Delo discloses that at first the European Commission had tried to handle the matter in non-formal settings - failing this, they resorted to formal procedures. As disclosed months ago by the Siol portal (www.siol.net/posel-danes/novice/pod-oznako-zaupno-guverner-jazbec-hujskal-ecb-proti-sloveniji-453486), Mr. Boštjan Jazbec, ex-Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, now main person under investigation, added considerably to these pressures by actively meddling and sending confidential letters to EU officials.
Here’s how Siol portal summarized Mr. Jazbec’s words to the European Central Bank (ECB): “If I go down, you’re coming with me.” The Delo article discloses that pressures exerted by the European Commission and ECB in collaboration with Mr. Jazbec are intensifying, so that now the Slovene prosecution is so much as “willing to have an agreement with ECB”, but the ECB imposes “such demands that fulfilling them would block the investigation.” Furthermore, the article explicitly states that according to the assessment made by Slovene authorities, Mr. Jazbec “continues lobbying for the European Commission to carry on the procedure against Slovenia from his current position of SRB board member”.
The PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) expresses profound indignation over pressures aimed at the criminal and judicial investigation and the involvement of the main person under investigation in staging these pressures. At the same time, the VZMD appeals to Slovene authorities to publicly announce that they will not succumb to pressure. This appeal is all the more reasonable given the fact that our authorities have a history of easing up on Mr. Jazbec and his co‐defendants: as stated in the Statement of Reasons of the court order from the Department for Investigations of the District Court in Ljubljana (www.finance.si/file.php?id=31441), issued for the search of premises at the Bank of Slovenia, Mr. Jazbec and his co‐defendants “exerted formal and informal pressure on judges” (Point 12 of the Statement of Reasons of the Order for the Search of Premises). Later on, the Governor invited the three involved judges “for lunch to thank them for their cooperation” (Point 13).
Mr. Kristjan Verbič, President of the VZMD, made a point regarding the public appeal to Slovene authorities and institutions, as follows: “We have to take a uncompromising stance in opposing further ever greater outrageous pressure to stop investigating irregularities and criminal acts that were committed during the expropriation of investors and excessive capitalization of Slovenian banks. To this end, Slovene authorities and institutions, which are subject to them, have to publicly protest against them, and inform the Slovene and international public about the content and developments regarding such protests.”
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