STA, 6 May 2020 - Acting Police Commissioner Anton Travner dismissed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI, Nacionalnega preiskovalnega urada) director Darko Muženič on Wednesday, appointing Igor Lamberger as its acting head. The replacement has raised dust among both coalition and opposition politicians, albeit for different reasons, while NBI employees spoke up for Muženič.
Lamberger, who holds a PhD in economics, served as a deputy president of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) from mid-2014 to mid-2019.
Lamberger had previously already worked for the Criminal Police Department, under the jurisdiction of which is the NBI, heading the sector for white-collar in 2002-2005.
After that, he was a lecturer at the Police College within the Police Academy until 2014. He now came to head the NBI from the team of the police commissioner.
Lamberger was appointed to head the agency investigating the severest white-collar crimes for the period until a new full-fledged director is appointed through a public call, the police said in today's press release, posted on its website.
Muženič came to the helm of the NBI on 1 June 2019, having previously led the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering. The press release noted his expertise and sovereign leadership, and added that he had been reassigned to join the police leadership.
The news portal 24ur.com meanwhile reported that Muženič had been replaced without his consent.
However, the police said that in line with the law, the police commissioner could replace the NBI boss within a year since the police commissioner was appointed or within a year since the NBI director was appointed, without providing the reason the law entailed for dismissal.
The opposition criticised the government for dismissing Muženič while coalition and government officials pointed to Muženič's contentious role in an Iranian money-laundering scheme when he headed the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering (February 2013 to mid-2019).
In 2009-2010, British-Iranian citizen Iraj Farrokhzade made thousands of transactions worth around US$1 billion through his NLB bank accounts in breach of Slovenia's anti money-laundering legislation while Iran was subject to international sanctions. The investigation into it is still ongoing.
Foreign Minister Anže Logar accused Muženič on Twitter of sending "false information" to foreign anti-money laundering agencies about the Iranian scheme when at the helm of the office.
"The proof of this are documents contained in the report by the parliamentary inquiry into the 2013 Slovenian bank bailout, which was sent to the NBI," Logar, who had chaired the parliamentary inquiry, added. He also wondered who could appoint a person with "such a burden" to lead the NBI.
Similarly, Prime Minister Janez Janša wondered on Twitter how "one of the key figures in the Iranian money-laundering scandal could even work for the police".
He believes that due to the politicisation of the NBI leadership, stories such as "one billion euros in laundered [Iranian] money for terrorists, billions of euros stolen from state-owned banks, and medical supplies worth hundreds of millions" have never been properly investigated.
NSi deputy group leader Jožef Horvat is bothered by Muženič having turned a blind eye as the head of the anti-money laundering office when "a billion euros was being laundered at NLB bank". "And then he became the NBI boss. Why? So that the money-laundering is not investigated," he told the press yesterday.
A different view was presented by opposition LMŠ leader Marjan Šarec, under whose premiership Muženič became NBI director. He believes he was replaced because the government wants to stop certain investigations.
Social Democrat (SD) secretary Dejan Levanič criticised the government for replacing first the police commissioner, then the head of the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering and now the NBI director.
"The government is clearly not interested in a drop in GDP, growing unemployment and people's hardships, it is interested in the key institutions in the country to protect its own interests," he twitted.
The LMŠ later presented a request to hold a session of the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee to debate what it believes to be the last in a series of politically motivated staffing changes at the police and security agencies.
The largest opposition deputy group admits the government is authorised to appoint directors, yet the fast replacement of key staff in Slovenia's police and security system raises doubt the replacements were motivated by the interest to fully control security and intelligence services.
One of the reasons for this is according to the LMŠ to cover up certain irregularities burdening individuals connected with the ruling Democrats (SDS).
A debate on the issues is also supported by the fellow opposition SD and the Left.
Supporting Muženič after today's dismissal were also NBI employees and one of the two police trade unions, the PSS, while the SPS declined to comment.
The PSS told the STA that Muženič enjoyed full support of employees, and NBI employees said in a public letter the NBI must operate independently of any political block.
The letter says Muženič has been professional all along so his dismissal is inadmissible and not in line with the reasons the law entails for dismissals.
As such, it raises doubts about political interference, which in the long-run undermines security organisations and effective crime investigation in the country.
Since it was launched ten years ago, the NBI has investigated 1,100 crimes and filed almost 800 criminal complaints at the prosecution, over cases in which alleged criminals illegally gained one billion euro in total.
