Former Czech ambassador facing fraud charges

Prague, Sept 8 (CTK) - Detectives from the anti-corruption team have proposed that former Czech ambassador to Australia Juraj Chmiel be charged with abuse of power and breach of trust, anti-corruption police spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej told CTK Saturday.

The detectives say that in one project of the Foreign Ministry, Chmiel avoided a tender by dividing it into five small ones, whereby he breached the law, Ibehej said.

Besides, he had three handpicked companies draw up the studies that were not connected with the objectives of the approved project, he added.

Chmiel denies any wrongdoing.

Ibehej said on Friday the file had been passed to the Prague 1 State Attorney's Office.

The police have charged Chmiel with abuse of power and breach of trust in property administration. If convicted, the charges carry up to ten years in prison.

Chmiel was ambassador to Australia from January 2008 to December 2009. He was a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) until November 2009 when he joined Jan Fischer's caretaker government of unaffiliated experts as minister for European affairs. Later he rejoined the party.

He held the ministerial post until July 2010 when a new regular government emerged from the early elections.

One of the indictments relates to a Foreign Ministry project on an information campaign in the Pacific for almost two million crowns.

Detectives have concluded that "Chmiel intentionally divided the project into five parts with which the law on public procurement and other regulations were violated in order to avoid the need to require offers by minimally three bidders and not to have to submit the winner for approval by the coordinator," Ibehej said earlier this year.

The police have also charged Chmiel with having ordered with three firms a study concerning overseas and tourism that were not connected with the approved project.

"Besides, they should not give any advantage to or promote Czech businesspeople in foreign markets," Ibehej said.

The firms were paid almost 1.5 million crowns for the studies in 2008.

Chmiel said in 2009 when he signed the above projects that they are in order and that the final report by the ministry's general inspection did not find any mistakes that he would have had to explain.