Prague high state attorney asks deputy to resign over ties to lobbyist

Prague, Dec 5 (CTK) - Prague High State Attorney Stanislav Mecl yesterday asked his deputy Libor Grygarek to resign over his communication with influential lobbyist Roman Janousek about which the media has written, Mecl has said in a press release passed to CTK.

Mecl has found out that at the time Grygarek was in charge of criminal proceedings, the high state attorney's office dealt with five cases relating to Janousek.

Mecl said Grygarek would voice his position on his resignation on Tuesday.

Mecl has reacted to the programme broadcast by the public television channel CT24. It related to the investigation of information leak from the corruption scandal involving the purchase of the Austrian-made Pandur armoured personnel carriers.

Mecl has conducted an "investigation over a possible personal link between Grygarek and Janousek."

The editors said Czech Television (CT) had a listing of Grygarek's phone calls at its disposal. It ensues from them that Grygarek wrote messages to Janousek.

Grygarek then told CT that if anyone had the listing of his messages, it was evidence of a criminal act and he would file a criminal complaint.

"I mention this because the police are checking this trace and the person, investigating whether he was behind the information leak," CT said.

"Given the above facts, I do not consider the information on the two gentlemen's meetings repeatedly published by the media compatible with the executing of the post of deputy supreme state attorney in Prague," Mecl said.

According to the server Ceskapozice.cz, Grygarek and Janousek also met at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, west Bohemia, in July.

On May 11, the papers Mlada fronta Dnes and Pravo published the testimony of Stephan Szuecs, a representative of the Pandurs maker, the Austrian firm Steyr, over an allegedly overpriced purchase of Pandurs.

Szuecs allegedly said Marek Dalik, a friend of then prime Mirek Topolanek, had asked him for half a billion crowns as a commission for the deal at the end of 2007

Weekly Respekt wrote earlier this year that the disclosure of Szuecs's name had alarmed the Austrian police and law-enforcement bodies.

Fearing revenge, the witness has gone into hiding and it is not sure whether he would repeat his testimony in court.

A Czech-Austrian police team started to investigate the purchase of Pandurs in mid-July 2010. The proceedings were started on suspicion of scheming in a public tender and public audit.

The decision on the purchase of 199 Pandurs with an option for another 35, worth a total of 20.8 billion crowns, was made by the government of Jiri Paroubek (Social Democrats, CSSD) in 2006.

At the end of 2007 Topolanek's government withdrew from the order over a breach of contractual conditions by the supplier, Steyr.

Half a year later, however, the government made a decision on a new order for 107 Pandurs for 14.4 billion crowns. The contract was signed in the spring of 2009.

($1=18.647 crowns)