Prague, May 15 (CTK) – The Czech ATM Energy firm, one of whose owners is President Milos Zeman’s key aide Martin Nejedly, operates compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations at EuroOil petrol stations ran by the state-run company Cepro, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Tuesday.
Cepro has been cooperating with Nejedly’s firm since late 2014. ATM Energy was founded only a few months before. The first CNG station was built at the end of 2015.
Cepro spokeswoman Lenka Svobodova dismissed the idea that ATM Energy won the contract thanks to Nejedly’s position of Zeman’s close assistant. However, five well-established companies were interested in the contract but failed to win it, MfD writes.
According to the contract with Cepro, Nejedly’s firm may sell CNG at 22 EuroOil stations in the country.
In total, there are more than 170 CNG filling stations in the Czech Republic.
Nejedly is considered to be one of the key figures around Zeman. He attended Zeman’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was the representative of Lukoil Aviation Czech from 2007, when the firm was established, to 2015 when it ended. This firm lost a protracted dispute with the state and a court ordered it to pay 27.7 million crowns in 2016.
