Entire govt is to blame for controversial military orders, finance minister says

Prague, Nov 21 (CTK) - It was the whole Czech government that unanimously approved all of the military orders that are now raising doubts for the alleged corruption of Martin Bartak as former deputy defence minister, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) said yesterday.

Kalousek said in a discussion on Czech Television (CT) that he himself, as finance minister in the Mirek Topolanek government (2007-2009), voted for the Czech purchase of the Pandur APCs and the CASA transport planes on the cabinet soil.

In the same way, the planned acquisitions were also supported by the other ministers, including Petr Necas and Alexandr Vondra (both Civic Democrats, ODS), i.e. the present prime minister and defence minister, respectively.

Necas and Vondra now say the Defence Ministry's suspicious deals must be cleared-up within the Necas government's anti-corruption efforts.

Kalousek said he rejects "fairy-tales being told about the bad sorcerer Bartak and the brave prince Vondra," as it was the government as a whole who decided on the now challenged military orders. The ministers are no "ignorant calves," he said.

"I would not pretend that I was not here [on the government] at the time, had nothing nothing to do with this, and that I'm only investigating it now, and if something is wrong, it is solely the bad Bartak who is to blame," Kalousek said, alluding to Bartak's critics from among his former government colleagues.

Bartak (unaffiliated) was deputy defence minister, nominated by the ODS, in Topolanek's government and defence minister in the interim cabinet of Jan Fischer (2009-2010).

After the mid-2010 elections, Kalousek chose him for a deputy finance minister.

Earlier this month, Bartak has taken an unpaid leave after William Cabaniss, former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic and member of the Tatra lorry maker board, publicly accused him of having asked for a bribe in early 2008 in connection with a military order for Tatra.

Kalousek yesterday said he and Bartak agreed that Kalousek will decide on Bartak's remaining at the Finance Ministry after the police raise accusations against someone.

"I'd consider it absurd if the investigation [preceding the possible accusation] took more than three months," Kalousek said.

He said Bartak has "committed" nothing else than hard work at the Finance Ministry.

Kalousek said he has never viewed Cabaniss as an untrustworthy man, but nor has he any reason not to trust Bartak saying that the accusation he faces is fabricated.

Kalousek said he knows well that his latest approach to Bartak does not benefit him. Nevertheless, he would feel even worse if he took a hasty step that would later turn out to be wrong, he said, reacting to the suggestions that he sack Bartak.

According to Kalousek, the police investigators should deal with "noteworthy aspects" linked to the fact that Cabaniss came up with the accusation only three years after the alleged event occurred.

Kalousek admitted that the then government's direct request for Tatra to supply the military with lorries, without launching a tender, was incorrect. Nonetheless, the U.S. embassy did not protest against it, though it always pointed to the absence of tenders in other cases, Kalousek said.

The acquisition of Pandurs was decided on by the Jiri Paroubek (Social Democrats, CSSD) government, whose successor, Topolanek's cabinet, changed the relevant contract in 2007.

The purchase of the C-295 CASA planes was decided on by the then outgoing Topolanek government in April 2009.

David Ondracka, head of the Czech branch of Transparency International, too, raised embarrassment at the three-year period that elapsed from Bartak's alleged corrupt step to Cabaniss' report on it.

Ondracka said in the CT debate that he does not expect the police to clear-up the Bartak case, as "three years after it is nothing but a counter-allegation."

Ondracka pointed out that Bartak has been connected with a number of similarly controversial cases.

"The government should realise that corruption can be fought only along with trustworthy people," Ondracka said, alluding to the Necas government's self-presentation as anti-corruption one.

According to a SC&C agency's poll for CT, 73 percent of Czechs expect the police investigation into the Bartak case to end inconclusively.

Only 12 percent of Czechs believe the opposite.

The poll showed that 53 percent of Czechs trust the accusation Cabaniss levelled against Bartak, 18 percent said they do not trust it and one-third said they have not made up their mind in this respect.