By: Moja Dolenjska
The Minister of the Interior, Boštjan Poklukar, addressed the chaos reportedly reigning at the Protection and Security Centre, as highlighted in the TV programme Tarča, during today’s press conference. In his remarks, he again sought to shift the blame onto others, a tactic also employed by Prime Minister Robert Golob in recent days. Poklukar stated he has no intention of resigning.
Among the revelations in Tarča were claims that officers at the centre had gathered information about the personal life of the prosecutor in the Kavaški Clan case without proper authorisation and issued illegal directives concerning the use of emergency vehicle signals for transporting ministers.
Poklukar began the press conference by repeating the familiar refrain that Slovenia is a safe country and that the police are performing well. This led some to question why a press conference was necessary in the first place if everything were truly in order.
Both Poklukar and Golob have laid the blame for the centre’s issues on former Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar and former Acting Director-General of the Police Boštjan Lindav, omitting the fact that the centre has been managed for nearly two years by individuals appointed by the current, unlawfully appointed Director-General of the Police, Senad Jušić.
Under the previous government, the centre was led by Bojan Oman, during whose tenure it avoided significant controversies. Lindav, upon assuming the role of Acting Director-General, allowed Oman to remain in his position. However, Oman apparently proved inconvenient for Lindav’s successor, Senad Jušić, who dismissed him in June last year and replaced him with Acting Director Tomaž Brezic. This July, Jušić appointed Franc Šešerko, previously employed in the department for preventive-operational protection and duty services, as the centre’s full-term director.