Slovak President Zuzana Caputova has asked interim Prime Minister Ludovit Odor to call a meeting of the state's Security Council following another round of arrests of police and security officials on August 17. Odor has called the Security Council for August 18.

The police operation included a raid on the house of the head of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) Michal Alac, who now faces charges of involvement in a criminal ring.

Odor, who heads the technocratic cabinet steering the country to September 30 snap elections, urged calm and stressed that there should be no intervention in police work. 

Several Slovak media reported the presence of masked units from the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) of the Police Presidium – which deals with the most serious instances of organised crime –  in the SIS building and in the building of the National Security Authority (NBU), the central government body for protection of classified information, cryptographic services, trust services and cyber security. 

As part of the “Rozuzlieni” (Resolution) raid,  five persons were charged with being part of a criminal group, including Alac and his predecessor Vladimir Pcolinsky, who is also charged in another investigation already. NBU boss Roman Konecny and two ex-members of NAKA’s now-defunct investigation team Obluk were also put under investigation. Ex-policeman Jan Kalavsky, who is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he asked for asylum, is also charged.   

A unit completely separated from the Bratislava branch of NAKA is in charge of the investigation.

At a press conference held in the afternoon of the same day, police chief Stefan Hamran said the raid was aimed at cracking a criminal ring, which has been under investigation since last April, though not all the main suspects were apprehended. Hamran and NAKA’s head Lubomir Danko pointed to businessman Peter Kosc who was supposed to have exercised influence over SIS through the intelligence agency's current and previous chiefs. 

Slovak police have launched a wave of investigations and arrests of policemen, prosecutors and judges to clean up the security and justice systems following fears that they had come under the influence of businessmen and criminals during the previous populist government of Robert Fico. 

“Corruption was present in the highest circles,” Harman stated at a press conference, adding that “the police was captured”. Charges brought up include establishing a criminal group, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice. The group is accused of derailing and sabotaging criminal investigations.  

Fico, leader of the populist Smer party, which now leads the pre-election polls, held a press conference in Presov, eastern Slovakia, where he was campaigning, and said that a “police coup attempt” is taking place “with the full support of the premier and President Caputova”.

Fico claimed that the “coup aims to get full control over SIS,” and he invoked paragraph 32 of the Slovak constitution, saying Slovaks have the right to confront anyone dismantling democracy in the country.

One of the country’s leading dailies, SME, noted that the last time Fico made claims about a coup was when he faced mass demonstrations following the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancé Martina Kusnirova in 2018, which eventually led to his downfall from power.  

Several high-profile officials and policemen from Smer’s 2010s era in power are under investigation, including former police head Tibor Gaspar, who is also on Smer’s candidate list.