Slovakia plans to abolish anti-corruption court

By Peter Laca

BRATISLAVA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Slovakia's government is looking to abolish institutions set up to deal with organised crime and bribery, a draft law showed on Thursday, a move diplomats said may dent the fight against corruption.

The draft law drafted by the Justice Ministry and posted on a government Web page, will dismantle a special court and a special prosecutors' bureau, saying the institutions discriminate against regular judges and prosecutors.

"The special court is only an extraordinary court established by the previous political power (government), which considered courts to be executors of its will and requested them to rule in line with the governing political ideology," the ministry wrote in the draft law.

The special court and prosecutors' bureau were set up by the centre-right cabinet of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, which lost power in June elections to a coalition led by the leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

"The proposal aims to achieve a status that will prevent discrimination in the judicial and prosecutors' profession, and will prevent future political interference with the work of law protecting entities," the draft said.

Slovakia, like other ex-communist nations that joined the EU in 2004, has been fighting to rein in corruption. Local media frequently report cases ranging from bribes to avoid penalties for drunk-driving to suspected kickbacks for state contracts.

When created, the government said the courts and special prosecutors had the advantage of being outside regional structures and better protection of their staff eliminated the chances of external influence.

But Justice Minister Stefan Harabin, nominated by Fico's coalition partner, the HZDS party of former authoritarian ruler Vladimir Meciar, has repeatedly criticised the special court and prosecutors for being too costly and ineffective.

Western diplomats have said the central European country must continue working to eliminate graft, and they criticised the attempt to cancel the special court.

"We have been closely watching activities around the special court. This institution was a very positive step in the fight against corruption," one EU diplomat in Bratislava said.

Fico said a decision on the special court and prosecutors would be taken by the government after it debates the proposal. ((Reporting by Peter Laca, editing by Alison Williams; Reuters Messaging: peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net; +40 21 315 8320))

Keywords: SLOVAKIA COURT