Slovakia's Fico excoriates judge over central banker bribery conviction

(Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico lambasted a judge who fined central bank Governor Petr Kazimir for corruption on Thursday, saying the judge might be politically motivated and should be probed for criminal behaviour.

Specialised Criminal Court judge Milan Cisarik imposed a 200,000 euro ($227,680) fine on Kazimir for bribing a tax authority chief when he was finance minister in Fico's previous government, before he took on the central bank job and a seat on the European Central Bank's policymaking council in 2019.

Kazimir denied any wrongdoing.

"The judge's decision raises the question whether it should have served political aims of the opposition to damage the ruling parties, because even a law faculty student must see fatal nonsense in the verdict," Fico said late Thursday.

"I cannot shake off the feeling that it is justified to look at potential suspicion that the judge committed multiple criminal acts and at what the ruling was supposed to serve."

The court declined to comment.

Fico regularly accused prosecutors and judges of improperly targeting him and his allies when he was in opposition in 2020-2023.

The ruling is not final, as Kazimir flagged he would appeal to a higher court, and so it does not force him to stand down from the central bank.

His term ends on June 1, but he will stay on until a replacement is appointed. There has been no political agreement for a process involving the government, parliament and president.

Nationalist European leaders like Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have often attacked the judiciary and clashed with the European Union over the rule of law.

In February, thousands of Hungarian judges, court staff and supporters marched to the ministry of justice to demand judicial independence, freedom of expression and better pay.

($1 = 0.8823 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague. Editing by Mark Potter)