Prague, Nov 14 (CTK) – Czech state attorneys proposed on Tuesday that a court charge former police officer Jiri Komarek of power abuse in connection with his comments on Police President Tomas Tuhy, whom he accused of “a brutal leak of information” last year, attorney Pavel Prygl has written on the Internet.
If found guilty, Komarek may end in prison for up to five years and face a profession ban.
The General Inspection of the Police Corps (GIBS) levelled accusations against Komarek at the beginning of the year. It said Komarek breached his obligation of confidentiality and impartiality by accusing, still in his capacity as a detective, his superior of a leak of information.
Komarek previously repeated that he stands by his words and that he considered Tuhy suspicious.
In 2016, Komarek ranked among the strongest critics of a police reshuffle initiated by Tuhy.
The reshuffle was supported by the government Social Democrats (CSSD) but fiercely opposed by the ANO movement of then finance minister Andrej Babis, who called it suspicious and counterproductive.
Leaving the police in protest, Komarek accepted a job at the Financial Administration (FS) falling under the Finance Ministry. He worked in the FS’s department of coordination of inspection. However, he has been off duty since April when criminal prosecution against him was launched.
Within the controversial police reshuffle, two elite national squads fighting corruption (UOKFK) and organised crime (UOOZ), respectively, merged to form one unit, the National Centre for Organised Crime (NCOZ).
ANO criticised the project as aimed to oust Robert Slachta as the UOOZ director. Slachta left the police in protest of the reshuffle, as did Komarek, his subordinate.
A lawmakers’ commission enquired into the reshuffle earlier this year. It came to the conclusion that the ousting of Slachta was not the reshuffle’s goal, but said the initiators of the reshuffle, Tuhy and his deputy Zdenek Laube, had underestimated its preparation.
