ECB’s Kažimír Convicted of Bribery but Avoids Jail for Now

29 May 2025

ECB’s Kažimír Convicted of Bribery but Avoids Jail for Now
Peter Kažimír, governor of the Národná banka Slovenska, at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking, 27 June 2023 in Sintra, Portugal.

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Peter Kažimír was convicted of bribery on Thursday and ordered to pay a fine of €200,000, but faces time behind bars only if he fails to comply with the sentence.

Kažimír, who heads the National Bank of Slovakia, was charged in 2021 of having bribed the head of his country’s tax authority in 2017, when he was finance minister. A judge two years ago found that there was sufficient evidence of the crime to fine him €100,000 and threaten the imposition of a two-year prison sentence.

Subsequently, however, the Slovak penal code was modified so as to halt the prosecution of various corruption cases via an abbreviated statute of limitations. This was at the initiative of Robert Fico, who became prime minister of Slovakia in October 2023 and immediately pursued such a change over widespread accusations that it was motivated by the desire to protect cronies.

After initial disagreement over whether the change was applicable to an ongoing case such as Kažimír’s, Slovakia’s Supreme Court last November found in his favour, but a month ago, the judge hearing the case reclassified the offense, finding that Kažimír had caused financial damage to the EU. This meant that his case was no longer time-barred.

Kažimír became governor of the National Bank of Slovakia and thus a member of the ECB’s Governing Council on June 1, 2019. His current term is set to end on June 1, but political in-fighting in the third most corrupt country of the euro area (based on Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index) may allow him to stay for the time being.

If the two largest ruling parties of Slovakia, one of which wants to keep him and the other of which would like to appoint a new governor, cannot come to agreement, then national law dictates that Kažimír be allowed to remain in the position until a successor is found.

During Kažimír's prosecution for bribery, questions have also arisen centring on his partner’s purchase of a villa on the French Riviera with third-party financial assistance. Kažimír has denied all wrongdoing and intends to appeal today's decision, his lawyer has said.