[15] Several members of the party's presidium, including its founder Peter Pellegrini, are associated with bribery and abuse of power in the testimonies of cooperating defendants.

Party vice-chairman Erik Tomáš was quoted as saying: "We have a conservative voter if we talk about polls, and I can assure everyone that we have our priorities, and they are not opening up some liberal issues.

[23] In January 2025, party leader Matúš Šutaj Eštok stated that "people around the world are realizing that the liberal and progressive ideologies of today's politicians do not truly represent freedom and progress but rather coercion and decline," citing examples such as Donald Trump's reelection, the collapse of Trudeau cabinet, the collapse of Scholz cabinet, the French political crisis, and the electoral victory of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ).

[24][25] In December 2020, the National Crime Agency charged the incumbent member of the party's presidium and former Minister of Environment in Pellegrini's cabinet Peter Žiga with bribery.

According to the testimony of the former Deputy Minister of Justice in Pellegrini's cabinet Monika Jankovská (pleading guilty of bribery and abuse of power), Žiga was to offer a bribe of €100,000 to the judge deciding the international dispute Gabčíkovo–Nagymaros Dams.

[26] In August 2021, former President of the Financial Administration František Imrecze and IT entrepreneur Michal Suchoba (both pleading guilty of bribery) testified that in 2014, incumbent party leader Peter Pellegrini then serving as Deputy Minister of Finance had asked for and subsequently received a bribe of €150,000 for political support for the adoption of a virtual treasury.

[29] In April 2022, as a part of the testimony of former President of the Financial Administration František Imrecze about an alleged criminal organization led by former prime minister of Slovakia and incumbent leader of Direction – Slovak Social Democracy Robert Fico, the current party deputy chairman Erik Tomáš was to illegally obtain compromising materials on their political rival and then opposition leader Igor Matovič by abusing state bodies.