Prague, July 28 (CTK) – Former Czech regional chief of the anti-mafia police (UOOZ) filed a complaint against the interior minister, the police president and his deputy due to suspected sabotage, probably related to the police shake-up that the three police leaders have pushed through, daily Pravo writes on Thursday.
The planned police shake-up, within which the UOOZ and the anti-corruption police squad will merge in one big centre as of August, has been criticised by Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman and Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO), among others, and Komarek and former UOOZ chief Robert Slachta resigned from their posts due to it.
The former UOOZ regional chief, Jiri Komarek, suspects Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD), Police President Tomas Tuhy and Deputy Police President Zdenek Laube, who is in charge of the shake-up, of sabotage. Komarek filed the complaint with the Supreme State Attorney’s Office, Pravo writes.
“Anybody can file a criminal complaint, but they must be ready to bear the consequences if the complaint is not substantiated,” Chovanec’s spokeswoman Lucie Novakova told the paper.
Police Presidium spokeswoman Jana Macalikova said neither Tuhy nor Laube would comment on Komarek’s complaint.
A parliamentary commission that deals with the suspicions related to the challenged police shake-up met yesterday. The commission planned to hear Komarek, Slachta and Olomouc High State Attorney Ivo Istvan behind closed doors at the meeting.
One month ago, Tuhy filed a complaint against Komarek with the General Inspection of Security Forces (GIBS). He did so in reaction to Komarek’s statement that Tuhy is suspected of “brutal” leaks of police data.
Sabotage is a crime against the state and long prison sentences may be imposed for it in extreme cases.
Komarek told Thursday’s issue of Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) that the restructuring of the police is “an attempt to take control of the police corps and thwart its work.”
