By: T. B. (Nova24TV.si)
The selection of the Chief of Police is apparently not yet a closed story. The government’s granting of full powers to Senad Jušić has irked former acting Chief Boštjan Lindav, who was also a candidate for the position of Chief of Police. Lindav has already threatened with criminal and civil proceedings if it is found that Senad Jušić does not meet all the requirements for the mentioned position. It is worth remembering that Lindav was “criminally” transferred because he was an ally of former Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar, who publicly raised concerns about political pressure on the police.
After the conclusion of the selection process for the Chief of Police, the President of the Competition Commission, Andrej Verhovnik Marovič, filed a report with the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) regarding suspicions of undue influence on the commission members, by the unsuccessful candidate for the Chief of Police, Boštjan Lindav through his lawyer. The Golob’s government had “gotten rid of” Lindav when he was no longer needed, but it appears that Lindav is not planning to leave without a “fight” after all the humiliation by the Golob’s government.
According to the report, Lindav sent a letter to the members of the competition commission before their decision, in which he threatened them with criminal and civil proceedings if they were to find that Senad Jušić did not meet all the requirements for the Chief of Police position. According to state media reports, he threatened them with procedures that could lead to their dismissal from service due to culpable reasons. The commission made its decision during a session on September 4th, while Lindav’s lawyer, Gregor Verbajs, sent the letter a few days earlier on August 28th. In the letter, among other things, the lawyer wrote that Senad Jušić did not meet the criteria specified in the job posting, and thus, the special competition commission would bear “full personal responsibility for the professionalism and diligence of the decision”, and that “violating regulations represents negligent work in the workplace”. The commission does not dispute Lindav’s right to interpret valid regulations differently than its members do, so he has legal protection and the ability to appeal the decision. “However, different decisions by the special competition commission cannot be achieved through threats or undue pressures,” as stated in the report to the CPC. This is considered “unacceptable and contrary to expected integrity” by the commission.
As it is known, the special competition commission determined that Senad Jušić meets all the requirements for the position of Chief of Police. The Minister of the Interior, Boštjan Poklukar, then proposed him for the position, and the government approved it. Lindav had already announced his intention to appeal to the court. It can be inferred that he was serious about his lawsuits, as during the scandal with the former Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar, he had already written a highly incriminating report specifically for the government and the Prime Minister. In this report, he detailed how the Prime Minister’s security officer, Miloš Njegoslav Milović, had greeted him before the meeting, even though Milović had never been officially employed by the government or in the public administration in general. Lindav had been carrying out all the dirty retaliatory work of the Golob’s government – with Bobnar they ad hoc dismantled the highway police, which led to a significant increase in traffic accidents, without evidence, they politically tarnished the individuals appointed during the Janša’s government. However, their services were no longer needed by the government.
Degradation and personal humiliation of Lindav
Recall that not long ago, dominant media reported that Jušić decided on the first moves of some employees in the leadership of the police, with former Chief of Police Boštjan Lindav, according to their information, being assigned an office at the Škofja Loka Police Station. These media outlets presented this as a normal personnel change, although it was obvious that they wanted to get rid of him in a “subtle way”. “The left considered Boštjan Lindav a useful fool. First, from 2020 to 2022, he provided them with information from the police and worked against its leadership and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Then, they pulled him out of Tacen to clean up the police for them, and now, after using him, they have discarded him and sent him back to Tacen.” This is how Žan Mahnič, a member of parliament and former State Secretary for National Security in the office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia during the previous government, commented on the dismissal of the former Chief of Police Lindav.
Lindav does not intend to forget this
Recall that when he was replaced by the right-wing government and later when he served as the acting director of the police under Golob’s government, the left-wing opposition did not stop praising him with superlatives about his excellence. Levica party MP, Nataša Sukič, referred to Lindav during a parliamentary hearing as a great expert and a person with a lot of integrity, a true gem of the Slovenian police. Lindav opposed Golob by taking a stance similar to that of the former interior minister who highlighted political pressure on the police. Afterward, Golob not only demoted Lindav with a criminal transfer but also personally humiliated him, and it seems that Lindav does not intend to forget this treatment.