Slovak Interior Minister Paid Cash for Luxury Dubai Hotel and Grand Prix Tickets — Police Found No Wrongdoing

The story concerns a trip by Slovakia's Interior Minister to the United Arab Emirates in December 2024. Extra-parliamentary opposition groups and anti-corruption organizations in Slovakia filed a complaint alleging the minister may have received an improper benefit, but police closed the case, finding no violations.

According to investigators, the minister and his partner paid roughly €12,500 in cash (about 300,000 Czech crowns) for plane tickets, and also paid cash for their stay at a luxury Dubai hotel. The minister's partner said the money came from their family savings, and that she personally handed over the cash both at the travel agency and at the hotel reception.

The Formula 1 race tickets themselves, however, were given to the couple free of charge — they were invited by the president of the Slovak automobile association, who had the authority to invite guests. It is worth noting that such passes are never sold to the public.

The investigator concluded that the trip was private in nature, and that access to the races was simply a gesture of hospitality. No connection was established between the Slovak Interior Ministry and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), which oversees the sport.

Yet the investigation's version of events raises questions. After the story broke, the minister claimed that during the trip he had actually discussed work-related matters — road safety, cyberbullying of Formula 1 drivers, and projects tied to Slovak industry. In the space of just a few days, the Slovak public heard several different accounts of what exactly the interior minister was doing at the Dubai races and how he ended up there in the first place.

Particular attention was drawn to the testimony of the minister's partner, who emotionally insisted to police that this was simply an ordinary private vacation. She said she personally went to the Tukan travel agency, specified the desired travel dates, and asked whether she could pay in cash — "because she had the money at home."

She said she brought banknotes in denominations of 100, 200 and 500 euros to the agency. "The money was shared, belonging to me and my partner, saved up from our earnings," she explained. That was the sum the couple took with them when they boarded the plane.

According to her statement, the couple booked a five-star hotel in Dubai. "Most likely a Hilton, in the wider city center, not far from the beach — the room rate included only a buffet breakfast," she noted.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz