At Thursday’s press conference, members of the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services Anja Bah Žibert (SDS), Monika Gregorčič (SMC), and Blaž Pavlin (NSi), made a statement regarding the events at the session of the Commission that happened earlier on the same day.
At the beginning of the press conference, SDS MP Anja Bah Žibert pointed out that the members of the Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services (“Komisija za nadzor varnostnih in obveščevalnih služb” – hereinafter referred to as KNOVS) found the actions of the President of KNOVS confusing, and sometimes, completely unreasonable. Members also assess that they often feel that the President of the Commission is abusing KNOVS for his own political purposes, which is unacceptable.
Bah Žibert highlighted the actions of the President of KNOVS, Matjaž Nemec, who did not want to put the proposals for the resolutions, submitted by the members of KNOVS from the SDS, SMC and NSi parties, up for a vote. According to Bah Žibert, these resolutions are crucial for the further functioning of the Commission. The resolutions are:
- KNOVS shall support the extraordinary supervision of the implementation of police tasks and powers at the National Bureau of Investigation.
2. KNOVS shall support the extraordinary supervision of the protection and handling of classified information in the National Bureau of Investigation.
3. KNOVS shall support the guidelines and mandatory instructions of the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, for the performance of police tasks, implemented by the National Bureau of Investigation, in the detection and investigation of criminal offenses, in particular in the field of economy, corruption and organized crime.
4. KNOVS calls on the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, to ensure appropriate conditions for the lawful operation of the National Bureau of Investigation.
5. KNOVS calls on the President of KNOVS, Matjaž Nemec, to stop abusing KNOVS for political purposes.
According to Bah Žibert, today’s statement for the media, made by the President of KNOVS, Matjaž Nemec, was misleading, as he did not clarify that he was only presenting one legal opinion to the members of KNOVS, out of many that he was supposed to obtain. The President of KNOVS also did not consult with the members of KNOVS on obtaining the legal opinions and requested these legal opinions himself.
At the end of the press conference, Bah Žibert also added that the session was pushed to one day before the interpellation of the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, which indicates that this was a political move.
Ivan Šokić