Slovak oligarch arrested in investigation into murder of journalist Kuciak |...

Slovak police on Tuesday arrested one of the richest and most powerful men in the country in connection with the murder of 27-year-old investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée in February 2018. Jaroslav Haščák, chief executive of financial group Penta, told journalists that he does not know what he is accused of.

Slovak media consider Haščák’s arrest to be the most spectacular event yet in the investigation of the murders.

Haščák has been considered the most powerful of the so-called oligarchs for more than 20 years, who are said to have systematically paid bribes for the favors of politicians. The news site Kuciak worked for had reported, based on sources within an investigation into Haščák, that the oligarch had secretly struck a deal to purchase and hide evidence against him.

The Penta financial group, managed by Haščák, is one of the main players in the real estate markets in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. Penta also owns banks and financial companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, significant shares in Slovak and Czech media, a health insurance company and several private clinics and outpatient clinics. In addition, pharmacy chains and an ambulance service in Slovakia are part of the company.

Shooter and accomplice have already been sentenced to prison

Kuciak investigated corruption. He and his girlfriend came under fire at their home in Bratislava in February 2018. The shooter, a former soldier, was sentenced to 23 years in prison in the spring. Another man was sentenced to fifteen years for complicity in the murders.

The murder of Kuciak and his girlfriend led to mass demonstrations against corruption in the Central European country in 2018. Public anger over the murders resulted in Prime Minister Robert Fico’s resignation. His political party Smer achieved the worst result since 2002 in the recent elections that took place in February.