Prague, July 7 (CTK) – Robert Slachta, former Czech anti-mafia police squad head, says he was under a strong pressure from his superiors who were trying to find out on which, mainly politically sensitive cases, detectives were working or in whom they are not interested, Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes yesterday.
Slachta left the post of the head of the Squad for Uncovering Organised Crime (UOOZ) as from June 30 in protest against the prepared police shake-up within which his squad and the anti-corruption one are to be merged into a large body.
HN writes that Slachta claims that Zdenek Laube, deputy police president, warned him several times against his squad working on certain cases.
Laube even said “we have vouched for you not to slip up,” Slachta says in an interview which HN will carry on Friday.
He said he comprehended that the police presidium played into the hands of politicians, but no names were mentioned.
“Everything had the form of hints. They always kept us in tension…As a result, I was fighting not only criminals, but also the superiors,” Slachta said.
Laube, the main persona behind the prepared police reform, dismisses any exerting any pressure on anyone or snooping on what the detectives are investigating.
Slactha believes that his removal was the real purpose of the hastily prepared police reform, HN writes.
It points out that the police leadership only announced the planned changes in the elite squads after media informed about them.
Besides Slachta, the senior state attorneys who direct the investigation into cases did not know about it.
When the information leaked, they said it is not clear what will happen of the cases which have started to be investigated and what measures will be taken to prevent the leak of confidential information from the planned large office, HN writes.
When Police President Tomas Tuhy was to explain the reform to the members of the Chamber of Deputies security committee, he distributed to them documents on the concept of the police until 2022 which said nothing about merging of the elite squads, HN writes.r
It writes that the merger was to take effect as from July 1, but it was later adjourned until August 1.
The call for the reform to be stopped was signed by 238 out of 450 police of the anti-mafia squad. Yet, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) approved the merger in June, HN writes.
On Monday, Chovanec said he has no adequate position in his sector for Slachta, who spent 25 years with the police, HN writes.
