VV deputy head to call on MPs to release Parkanová for prosecution

Prague, June 26 (CTK) - Czech opposition Public Affairs (VV) deputy head Katerina Klasnova yesterday said she will ask all VV deputies to vote for former defence minister Vlasta Parkanova's release for prosecution over the CASA planes purchase and that the VV does not want the case to be swept under the carpet.

The Chamber of Deputies should not substitute for the court's decision-making, Klasnova told journalists.

"It is not up to us, politicians, to assess particular proofs, or to decide which legal interpretations are correct. This is up to the court," VV chairman Radek John said.

He said he believes that Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) was also involved in the decision making on the CASA deal.

Kalousek said at a press conference after the government's meeting "I do not comment on shouts from the lowest-category pubs."

He said sweeping cases under the carpet by law-enforcement bodies is one side of the coin. The other is expedient invented prosecution.

"Both is bad. Altogether it is called 'the possibility of expedient manipulation through investigation.' I will be fighting against both," Kalousek said.

The anti-corruption police have asked for the release of Parkanova, now MP for the junior government TOP 09, whom they suspect of abuse of power and breach of trust due to her failure to have an expert opinion worked out before nodding to the purchase of CASA planes for the Czech military in 2009.

The damage inflicted is allegedly up to 658 million crowns.

The Chamber of Deputies is to decide on Parkanova's release at its session in July.

The VV says it considers it suspicious that Kalousek has taken enormous efforts to interfere in the Parkanova affair. The VV suspects Kalousek of being the real protagonist of the affair.

"Minister Kalousek has started to fight with unprecedented intensity, he is intimidating the police. He is fighting like a lion for Parkanova not to be released for criminal prosecution. We would like to alert to that the protagonist of the case is not Vlasta Parkanova, but Finance Minister Kalousek," John said.

He said Kalousek is resorting to "camouflage" to divert attention from the essence of the sale.

John said the VV is also calling on the financial-analytical department of the Finance Ministry to check the sales of the Omnipol and Zenit firms for possible money laundering.

Omnipol, that was headed by Kalousek's friend, armament dealer Richard Hava, mediated the purchase of the CASAs.

Kalousek, former deputy defence minister and finance minister since 2009, has been fiercely defending Parkanova. He asserts that no expert opinion was needed for the purchase of special military equipment like the CASAs, therefore the police's accusation of Parkanova are unfounded.

($1=20.669 crowns)