Prague, Aug 31 (CTK) – Czech lobbyist Marek Dalik, who was sentenced to four years in prison for corruption accompanying a military contract, flew abroad just one day before he started to serve his prison term, according to MEP Petr Jezek (ANO) who has published a photo of Dalik at the Prague airport on Twitter.
Dalik has told the server Neovlivni.cz that this was a planned trip about which he had informed the judge.
He must start serving his prison term on Thursday at the latest.
“I am not about to vanish. I will return tomorrow,” Dalik wrote to Neovlivni.cz.
According to the indictment, Dalik, former close aide to prime minister Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, (ODS), demanded 18 million euros for the continuation of the purchase of the Pandur armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for the Czech military from the Austrian firm Steyr.
The appeals high court lowered the original five-year prison sentence to four years.
Dalik pleads not guilty, arguing that there was no corruption, but a routine contract for commission that was not for him. He said he had only acted in the case as a go-between for Slovak lobbyist Miroslav Vyboh.
The Czech police started dealing with the case based on the testimony of former Steyr employee Stephan Szcucs.
He said in March 2011 that Dalik had asked for the bribe at an informal meeting in a Prague restaurant in November 2007, pretending having close ties with representatives of the Czech government and being able to influence their decision-making and the order alone.
It was not proven that he had asked for the bribe at the request of anyone from the government.
The case is yet to be dealt with by the Supreme Court to which Dalik has filed a recourse, but the complaint does not postpone his entering the prison.
The purchase of Pandurs for 20.8 billion crowns was approved by the left-wing government of Jiri Paroubek (Social Democrats, CSSD) in 2006. At the end of 2007, Topolanek’s government said Steyr had violated the conditions of the purchase and it withdrew from it. In 2008 Topolanek’s government put up a new tender, within which the Czech army bought 107 Pandurs for 14.4 billion crowns in 2009.
