State attorney rejects Tatra CEO's complaint

Brno/Koprivnice, North Moravia, Sept 5 (CTK) - Czech state attorney Jan Petrasek yesterday rejected Tatra lorry maker chief Ronald Adams' complaint against his prosecution over alleged corruption, Tatra's spokesman Vladimir Bystrov told CTK.

He said Tatra was not surprised by the decision and believes that the police will investigate the case as soon as possible.

"As this state attorney previously did not hesitate to approve criminal prosecution based on fabricated accusations of prosecuted persons and he even proposed remanding in custody, he cannot be expected to change his stance all of a sudden," Bystrov said.

Petrasek said he believes three or four witnesses against Adams seemed enough to him to continue prosecution.

He said he considers Adams' accusation so serious that the investigation should be brought to a conclusion.

A court is to decide who is telling the truth, whether the witnesses or Adams, Petrasek added.

Tatra said before Adams was accused based on testimonies of former defence minister Martin Bartak and arms dealer Michal Smrz.

Bartak and Smrz themselves face prosecution over the suspected demanding of a bribe for securing orders for Tatra, of which they were accused by the Tatra supervisory board head and former U.S. ambassador to Prague, William Cabaniss.

Bartak's investigation started in late 2010. The police accused Bartak and Smrz of corruption in November 2011. Adams was accused on August 21.

The police suspect Adams of offering a 20-million-crown bribe to Bartak at the IDET defence and security technologies trade fair in Brno in 2009 if the ministry placed further public orders with Tatra. Bartak was deputy defence minister then.

Bystrov said Petrasek did not directly answer the objections presented by Adams and he only repeated what he said before. Bystrov said Petrasek did not even react to the objections that the Brno Municipal Court presented last week when deciding on the proposed taking into custody.

Adams admitted to Lidove noviny (LN) daily in late August that he mentioned a bribe for the supply of off-road vehicles for the Czech military but he was merely bluffing to test the situation.

In February 2008 Adams led several negotiations with Smrz who allegedly conveyed to him a message from high-ranking state officials asking for a bribe that would secure a smooth completion of the supply of 588 off-road vehicles for 2.7 billion crowns, Adams told LN.

The police have not provided details on the prosecution of Adams so far.

($1=19.871 crowns)