Prague, July 7 (CTK) – The Czech Police Command sharply dismissed yesterday the statement by former anti-mafia police squad (ÚOOZ) head Robert Šlachta that he was under a strong pressure from his superiors, he made in an interview with the paper Hospodářské noviny (HN).
Slachta left the post of UOOZ head on June 30 in protest against the prepared police shake-up within which his squad and the anti-corruption unit were to be merged into a large body.
Slachta told the paper his superiors had warned him that his unit should not deal with some criminal cases.
HN said Slachta had understood that the police command wanted to serve politicians.
“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.
The police command dismissed the allegations.
“We absolutely rule out any pressure on the management of the unit on the part of police top officials. The same is true of any efforts to gain unrightfully information from the criminal files,” police spokesman Jozef Bocan said in a press release.
The police command said it was shocking that Slachta had not done anything at the time he was allegedly under the pressure and did not tell the GIBS police inspection.
“There is the question of why the alleged violation of law by the police command is only surfacing now and this is done through the media, not in the official way,” Bocan said.
