(Reuters) -A Slovak court will rule on May 29 whether Slovak National Bank governor and European Central Bank policymaker Peter Kazimir is guilty of corruption, the court’s spokeswoman said on Friday.
The case dates back to Kazimir’s previous position as finance minister before he became the central bank’s chief in 2019. Kazimir, who is a member of ECB’s rate-setting governing council, denies any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have proposed a jail sentence in the middle of the applicable one to five range, Slovak media reported.
A guilty verdict by the Specialised Criminal Court would not force Kazimir out of office, as it could still be appealed to a higher court.
Kazimir was on a foreign trip on Friday and the central bank had no immediate comment.
Kazimir’s current six-year term at the head of the central bank will end just days after the planned ruling, on June 1, but he is expected to overstay the period in line with the law until a decision on whether he will be granted another term or replaced.
Slovak central bank governors are nominated by the government, approved by parliament and appointed by the president.
Prosecutors allege that, while Kazimir was finance minister in 2012-2019, he delivered a 48,000 euro bribe to the then-head of national tax administration to influence tax proceedings.
The defence, apart from denying any bribery, has argued that the case should be thrown out due to statutes of limitation that were shortened by a criminal law reform enacted last year. But the judge reclassified the case in a way that allowed it to continue.
Kazimir was originally found guilty and given a 100,000 euro fine in 2023, but appealed the verdict, sending the case to full trial.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in PragueEditing by Toby Chopra and Frances Kerry)
