By: A. H. (Nova24TV.si)
MEP and president of NSi, Matej Tonin, expressed surprise in response to the reporting by the N1 portal regarding the criminal complaint filed by the Maribor Police Directorate against four members of the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services (Knovs) for alleged abuse of office related to the oversight of the police in the Dars affair.
Tonin, who insists that the oversight was conducted legally, expects the prosecution to dismiss the criminal complaint, as he believes that “the law is on their side.” SDS president Janez Janša also responded to the developments, writing on platform X that while one could call it “karma,” it is also a “fundamental question of democracy.”
The Maribor Police Directorate confirmed that it had filed a criminal complaint with the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office against four members of the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services (Knovs) on suspicion of abuse of official position or official rights under Article 257 of the Criminal Code, in co-perpetration, N1 reports. The police did not disclose the names of the suspects, but based on the preliminary proceedings, which have been ongoing since March 2025, it is likely to involve Janez Žakelj, Matej Tonin, Jernej Vrtovec, and Jožef Horvat. The allegations concern the alleged improper conduct of the oversight, during which Knovs members are said to have abused their positions to obtain non-material benefits for several individuals.
NSi maintains that the oversight was conducted legally and in line with long-standing parliamentary practice. Tonin emphasised that Knovs acted in accordance with the Law on Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services, which mandates the commission to investigate possible illegal wiretapping upon citizens’ requests. “But the list also included numbers of members of other parties and people who belong to no party,” Tonin told STA. He stressed that the oversight, which was also attended by Predrag Baković from SD and Teodor Uranič from GS, was a routine procedure.
Reactions from NSi and the police
NSi believes the complaint will not hold up in court, noting they have not yet received official information about the complaint and insist that they acted lawfully. “Therefore, we expect the prosecution to dismiss the charges,” the party said in a statement to STA. The party announced it would inform European and international institutions for the protection of democracy and the rule of law about “the increasing pressure by law enforcement on the Slovenian opposition and the obstruction of democratic oversight.”
The police, when launching the preliminary proceedings in March 2025, had already denied allegations of political abuse, emphasising that the process is directed by the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office and that the police have been cooperating correctly with Knovs and providing all necessary information in accordance with the law. According to the police, criminal investigators have collected sufficient evidence to support the suspicion of abuse of official position.
Janša: “We have sunk to the level of the Russian Federation”
SDS leader Janez Janša also commented on the developments on platform X, writing: “We could calmly call it karma – that NSi MPs, who took control of both oversight commissions with the help of coalition votes at the expense of the three-times-larger SDS parliamentary group, deserve it. But this is a fundamental issue of democracy: Who will still dare to oversee the ‘Golob’ police if they will be repressed for doing so? Is the public even aware that, in terms of parliamentary oversight, we have sunk to the level of the Russian Federation?”
The Dars affair refers to alleged irregularities in the operations of Slovenia’s Motorway Company (Dars), which surfaced in the media at the end of October 2023. According to reports, the investigation focused on individuals connected to NSi, including former Dars CEO Valentin Hajdinjak and former maintenance division head Damijan Jaklin. In this context, Knovs – the parliamentary commission responsible for overseeing intelligence and security services – conducted an unannounced inspection of the General Police Directorate (GPU) in November 2023. The purpose was to verify whether the police were conducting illegal covert surveillance measures, such as wiretapping, on individuals connected to the Dars affair, including prominent NSi members.
At the Knovs session on November 3rd, 2023, commission members – Janez Žakelj, Matej Tonin, Jernej Vrtovec, and Jožef Horvat – unanimously decided to carry out the oversight. The authorised group, which included Tonin and Žakelj, requested access to records on covert investigative measures at the GPU and submitted a list of 15 phone numbers, including those of Hajdinjak, Jaklin, Primorska businessman Sebastjan Vežnaver, and attorney Nina Zidar Klemenčič, who was considered Dars’s in-house lawyer during Hajdinjak’s term.
Back in March 2025, Tonin had already pointed to alleged political motivations behind the investigation, naming Vesna Vuković, then Secretary General of the Gibanje Svoboda party, who he claimed obtained the list of phone numbers checked during Knovs’s oversight from the police. At that time, NSi expressed the belief that this represented an “outrageous abuse of the police” for political retaliation against the opposition – an allegation firmly denied by both the Gibanje Svoboda and the police.