Brno, April 12 (CTK) – Lobbyist Marek Dalik, who was serving a four-year sentence for corruption, left prison in the afternoon after the Czech Supreme Court (NS) ordered to immediately release him, Prison Service directorate’s spokeswoman Petra Kucerova told CTK.
The NS decided so after a closed hearing dealing with the recourses filed by both Dalik and the state attorney’s office, its spokesman Petr Tomicek said.
Tomicek said he would not elaborate pending the court’s drafting a written explanation, which the court is to issue within 20 days and send it to the Prague Municipal Court that would deliver the decision to Dalik and the state attorney’s office.
It seems that Dalik left the prison in Znojmo, south Moravia, in a Volvo car with dark window tints. He did not talk to journalists.
Lawyer Radek Smerda who was involved in Dalik’s defence told CTK that his colleague, a lawyer from Brno, picked up Dalik in Znojmo.
Smerda said he received no further information on the step of the NS, but he assumed that the court quashed the judgement and ordered a new proceeding based on its binding decision.
After spending more than seven months in prison, Dalik is likely to have a new trial. He was sentenced to four years in prison. He was also ordered to pay a penalty of four million crowns, which he did last year.
According to the indictment, Dalik demanded 18 million euros for the continuation of the purchase of Pandurs from the maker of the vehicles, the Austrian firm Steyr, in 2011. The Czech police started dealing with the case based on the testimony of former Steyr employee Stephan Szcuecs.
Dalik asked for the bribe at an informal meeting in a Prague restaurant in November 2007. He pretended having close ties with representatives of the Czech government and being able to influence their decision-making on the purchase of the military vehicles, which was not true. He eventually did not get any money.
The appeals court has concluded that Dalik was cheating when he pretended being able to influence a state contract.
Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman filed an appellate review with the Supreme Court, demanding a higher sentence. Dalik, who pleads innocent, also turned to the Supreme Court asking for an acquittal.
The purchase of Pandurs worth 20.8 billion crowns was approved by the government of Jiri Paroubek (then Social Democrats, CSSD) in 2006. In late 2007, Topolanek’s government withdrew from the deal over a breach of the contractual conditions by the supplier, Steyr. Half a year later, the government approved a new deal, the purchase of 107 Pandurs worth 14.4 billion crowns.
($1 = 25.112 crowns)
