Prague, June 21 (CTK) – Czech Police President Tuhy filed yesterday a criminal complaint about the claim by Jiri Komarek, head of the police organised crime (UOOZ) department in Ostrava, north Moravia, that Tuhy is suspected of a “brutal” leak of information in a case in which hundreds of million crowns are involved.
Tuhy filed the complaint with the GIBS police inspection. He has accused Komarek of slander and other crimes.
“The allegation is false, it harms the trust in the whole police body and, last but not least, interferes in my private life,” Tuhy said in his press release.
Last week, the police reshuffle outlined by Tuhy was approved by Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD). Within it, the UOOZ and the anti-corruption police units are to be merged.
The merger was fiercely opposed by Finance Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO, a member of the coalition government. At first, it threatened to leave the government if the restructuring were given a go-ahead, but after this happened, it dropped the threat.
UOOZ head Robert Slachta has resigned in protest against the restructuring.
Some elite police officers have suggested that the real aim of the reshuffle is to get rid of Slachta and to dissolve the unit.
They want to inform the Chamber of Deputies security affairs committee about what they call a link between some senior police officers and the criminal environment.
A week ago, state attorneys from the High State Attorney’s Office in Olomouc, north Moravia, questioned two person over the reshuffle. They did not disclose their names, but they said before that the situation should be explained by Tuhy and his deputy Zdenek Laube.
The state attorneys are checking whether the restructuring arises from a plan to get rid of Slachta reportedly outlined three years ago.
Olomouc state attorney Petr Sereda confirmed to the public Czech Radio yesterday that the questioning focused on the connection between the police and criminals about which Slachta wants to inform the the Chamber of Deputies.
“In his statement, Komarek spoke about some findings from some cases. We have also confirmed that findings from some criminal cases were the reason for our making the questioning. There may be some connection,” Sereda said.
State attorneys, too, may speak before the Chamber of Deputies committee if some conditions are fulfilled, Sereda said.
After Komarek spoke on Czech Television (CT) about the affair, Chovanec said the police ought to have turned to the GIBS if they suspect some of the police officers of a criminal act.
Komarek replied that he had not turned to the inspection because its officers had tried to gain access into an open case file.
Tuhy has denied his responsibility for the information leak, calling it an expedient pressure that was to compromise him.
($1 = 23.877 crowns)
