Olomouc, July 19 (CTK) – Attorneys from the Olomouc High State attorney’s Office have charged former Czech PM Petr Necas, his wife Jana Necasova, previously Nagyova, and former senior official Roman Bocek for bribing MPs with lucrative posts, the attorney’s office announced on its website yesterday.
This is another in a series of criminal cases stirred up by the corruption police’s raid at the Government Office and other facilities in June 2013 when the police detained Nagyova, head of PM Necas’s office, and other senior clerks. In reaction to it, Necas resigned as PM and Civic Democrat (ODS) chairman and his government fell. Later, he married Nagyova.
The new charges, filed with the Prague 1 District Court yesterday, are connected with three former ODS deputies, Petr Tluchor, Ivan Fuksa and Marek Snajdr. They gave up their deputy’s mandates and thus enabled the passage of the controversial government tax package in November 2012 in exchange for a promise of lucrative posts in firms with state participation, according to the charges.
Snajdr and Fuksa really filled lucrative posts in state firms. State attorneys claim that Nagyova and Bocek induced Necas to promise them the posts.
In a statement sent to CTK, Bocek and Tluchor said there has never been any such bargain on giving up mandates in exchange for posts.
Bocek said he did not incite Necas or Nagyova to bribe the MPs and he did not negotiate about any bargain.
Bribing charges of Necas are out of question since he did not act actively in the case, Necas’s defence lawyer Josef Lzicar said yesterday in reaction to the charges.
The filling of the managerial posts in state firms, the Czech Aeroholding and Cepro, with Fuksa and Snajdr, respectively, was in the power of then finance minister Miroslav Kalousek and not the PM, Lzicar added.
The three ex-MPs were originally also charged with corruption, but the Supreme Court (NS) halted their prosecution, arguing they were protected by immunity that applies to political deals made by MPs during the existence of their mandate.
Last April, the state publicly apologised to them for prosecution and custody and they were entitled to a compensation of hundreds of thousands of crowns.
On the other hand, Necasova’s complaint about her prosecution and custody in this case was rejected by the Constitutional Curt. Bocek also failed with his complaint.
Besides, Necasova was charged with tax evasion last March. She did not pay tax on luxurious gifts, such as brand handbags, that state attorneys connected with the bribery case.
The police put the value of some 30 gifts at ten million crowns of which she must pay an additional tax of 736,025 crowns. The police are of the view that the gifts were actually bribes from influential people to secure their positions in firms and access to Necas.
The attorneys originally wanted to charge Necasova/Nagyova with corruption in this case as well, but they lacked evidence.
Necasova is allegedly entangled in several cases. Detectives came across her from wiretappings in an extensive case of influencing public orders and abuse of power by clerks and lobbyists.
In June, a district court acquitted Necasova, military intelligence former chiefs Ondrej Palenik and Milan Kovanda and intelligence agent Jan Pohunek of charges of abuse of Military Intelligence (VZ) again. According to the indictment, Nagyova/Necasova abused the VZ for shadowing Necas’s then estranged wife for personal reasons in late 2012. The appeals court will deal with the case.
Moreover, Necasova was brought to court along with lobbyist Ivo Rittig and two defence lawyers on suspicion of leaking classified information from the BIS civilian counter-intelligence service.
($1=24.446 crowns)
