Europe‘s most notorious scandals, when in 1995 the son of former Slovak President Michal Kováč was kidnapped and dumped across the border in neighbouring Austria. A court in Vienna said the Slovak security services, then headed by Ivan Lexa, had probably been behind the abduction but Mečiar‘s government shelved the case and earlier this year gave amnesties from prosecution to all those involved despite maintaining that no kidnapping ever took place. In a further twist last week, Mečiar resigned his parliamentary seat in favour of Lexa thus giving him immunity from prosecution. The new SIS chief is Vladimír Mitro, who was head of state security prior to the appointment of Lexa.