ECB governing council member convicted of bribery

Peter Kažimír, governor of the National Bank of Slovakia and a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, was convicted of bribery on Thursday and fined €200,000, just days before his term is due to expire.

Despite the ruling, Mr Kažimír, an old political ally of Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, is expected to remain as the country’s central bank governor beyond the scheduled end of his six-year term at the start of June.

The verdict can be appealed and does not force him from office. Before Thursday, Slovak lawmakers were deadlocked over whether to reappoint him. Mr Kažimír will continue to take part in ECB rate-setting meetings, with the next decision on June 5th.

Mr Kažimír, who served as finance minister under a previous Fico administration, did not attend the court hearing. In a pre-recorded statement, he denied wrongdoing and pledged to appeal against any conviction.

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Presiding judge Milan Cisarik ruled that Mr Kažimír would face a one-year prison sentence should he fail to pay the fine. Prosecutors had sought prison, accusing Mr Kažimír of acting as an intermediary in the payment of a bribe to a former senior tax official while serving as finance minister.

The National Bank of Slovakia said on Thursday that it took note of the verdict against its governor, who is currently on a work trip to Hong Kong. “The bank continues to operate without restrictions and carries out its functions in full,” it added.

The case against Kažimír almost collapsed last year after Fico’s government pushed through contentious amendments to the criminal code, including a shortened statute of limitations. However, it was revived when the prosecution argued that the alleged bribery offence harmed the financial interests of the EU, placing it outside the reach of the domestic legislation. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited