By: C. R.
The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) has initiated an investigation against Prime Minister Robert Golob due to detected suspicions of integrity breaches related to a report on the alleged unlawful exertion of pressure on the former Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar and other employees at the ministry. CPC made this decision at the beginning of November, and today, the public has been informed about the person under consideration.
As explained in the press release, summarised by STA, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) initiated a preliminary investigation based on a report received in December 2022. “Following a careful and thorough examination of the obtained or available documentation, explanations, and relevant facts, with the collaboration of other authorities, the commission detected a suspicion of a breach of integrity, as defined by the law on integrity and the prevention of corruption,” they stated.
They clarified that the CPC Senate deliberated on the matter on November 3rd. “It decided to initiate an investigation against Prime Minister Robert Golob, who thereby became the person under consideration. The person under consideration has already been notified of the initiation of the investigation, and the commission informs the public about it due to demonstrated interest,” they explained. They added that the investigation continues in the part related to the mentioned report, while a part of the allegations from the report is still being examined in the preliminary investigation.
In this regard, the CPC emphasises that only further proceedings will determine whether the detected suspicions of violations will be confirmed or dismissed. “The person under consideration has all the rights guaranteed by the regulations in the process, and within these, they will also have the opportunity to explain their actions,” they explained. More information about the case will be provided by the CPC after the completion of the process due to procedural interests.
On November 3rd, the CPC announced that the Senate of the commission, composed of both deputy presidents of the CPC, David Lapornik and Simon Savski, had made the decision to initiate an investigation into the allegations of pressure on Bobnar. At that time, they also announced that more information about the case would be provided when the persons under consideration were informed about the initiation of the investigation.
Commission President Robert Šumi had already recused himself from the decision-making process in this specific case in December of the previous year. He justified this, among other reasons, by having a frozen employment contract with the police and being business-connected with Bobnar, with whom he had collaborated for several years, as stated in the CPC’s communication after the mentioned session.
The former Interior Minister reported allegations of political pressure on the police to the commission in December last year when she also resigned from the position of the Interior Minister. She spoke again about these pressures during a notable hearing before the parliamentary inquiry commission investigating impermissible political interference in the work of the police and other relevant state authorities. She reiterated that she had been subjected to political pressure from Prime Minister Robert Golob, which later led to her resignation.
Political analysts believe that the former party leader Milan Kučan is behind this (such significant events do not happen without his knowledge), which is why Golob’s days as the Prime Minister are numbered. Whether he will resign this week remains to be seen in the coming days.
There is already talk about potential successors for the position of Prime Minister, ranging from Zoran Janković, Stojan Petrič, Alenka Bratušek to Tone Rop.