Prague, June 8 (CTK) – A police officer was driving the super-modern BMW car during the accident in south Moravia last week, while Presidential Office Protocol deputy head Vladimir Krulis was sitting next to him, General Inspection of Security Corps (GIBS) has confirmed, Pravo writes yesterday.
The GIBS has also ruled that no crime was committed by Krulis’s presence in the car during the test drive, Pravo writes.
Some media speculated that Krulis, 35, who accompanied President Milos Zeman during his tour of the South Moravia Region, was driving the luxurious hybrid car worth four million crowns, which the police had borrowed for testing.
A crime would have been committed if civilian Krulis had been driving it, a source well-informed about the investigation told Pravo.
Now the Police Presidium management will look into the case since South Moravia police chief Leos Trzil, who approved Krulis’s ride, falls under it, Pravo writes.
The BMW drove into a brook on the outskirts of Brno after its driver suffered a stroke and lost control of it on Monday evening last week after the official programme of Zeman’s visit, the police said previously.
Zeman did not watch the test ride. He said he had been in bed then.
The driver and Krulis suffered serious injuries and were sent to hospital. Krulis broke two vertebrae, Zeman said last week.
Both the police and the emergency service, which assisted on the scene after the accident, insisted on Krulis not having been at the wheel.
According to the Interior Ministry’s order, only members of the security forces, the Interior Ministry’s employees or persons whose transport is connected with the fulfilment of their professional duties can use a police car, police command spokeswoman Ivana Nguyenova said after the accident.
However, she did not directly say whether Krulis had been in the car legitimately.
The car, which the police received for testing in the first half of May, was to be primarily used to fight road pirates on motorways and high-speed roads in South Moravia. The police have borrowed the car from the Invelt firm for six months or until it covers 20,000 kilometres.
($1=23.459 crowns)
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