Slovakia – The National Criminal Agency of the Slovak police (NAKA) raided the Ministry of Health in Bratislava on 30 October as part of a corruption investigation in connection with the Kysuce Hospital in Čadca, the capital of a district in the Žilina region in the north of the country. A number of documents were seized by the investigators on this occasion.

Seizure operations in several locations in Slovakia

The spokeswoman of the NAKA, Denisa Bárdyová, confirmed “the performance of seizure operations in criminal proceedings in a number of locations”. On her side, the new Minister of Health, Zuzana Dolinková (Hlas), declared to the Slovak press, which reported on the matter, this concerns call for tenders in relation with the “construction and reconstruction of hospitals [with the funds from] the Recovery Plan” and “specifically related to the case of the hospital in Čadca”.

According to the spokeswoman of the ministry, Petra Lániková, “due to the ongoing investigation, we will not comment further on the case at the moment. However, the Ministry of Health will be fully cooperating with the investigation.”

A criminal complaint filed by Health Minister Michal Palkovič

The former Health Minister Michal Palkovič and the former State Secretary Lenka Dunajová had indeed filed a criminal complaint in this regard, while this case is also being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, insofar as the offence in question concerns European funds.

Further, the NAKA did not only intervene in the Health Ministry, but also at the Institute of Health Analyses and the Health Implementation Agency (ZIA).

The Kysuce Hospital in Čadca was excluded, then included on the list

The background of the investigation is that an envelope of 200 million euros has to be shared among hospitals for reconstruction after a call for tenders. The Čadca hospital did apply in order to take part in it, but was first eliminated from the competition. However, some days later, Health minister Vladimír Lengvarský (in office from April 2021 to March 2023 in the government of Eduard Heger) included it on the list of successful applicants… and should therefore receive a 8,4 million euros subvention for a 17 million euros worth project.

The spokeswoman of the Žilina region, Eva Lacová, explained that “the call from the recovery and resilience plan for reconstruction and modernisation has been accompanied from the beginning by doubts about the transparency of the whole process, so we welcome the steps leading to the investigation and we will provide full cooperation to the law enforcement authorities.”