Prague, July 25 (CTK) – Lobbyist Dalik Marek was definitively sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud during the talks on the purchase of the Pandur armoured carriers for the Czech military, the Prague High Court ruled on Tuesday.
Dalik must also pay a fine of four million crowns, otherwise he would face another two years behind bars.
The verdict is valid.
The court dealt with the Dalik case for the second time. It originally sentenced him to four years in prison.
However, the Supreme Court released Dalik from prison after seven months and ordered that the lower-level court deal with the legal assessment of the case again.
According to the indictment, Dalik asked a representative of the Steyr firm for a bribe of 18 million euros at an informal meeting in a Prague restaurant in November 2007. He pretended having close ties with representatives of the Czech government and being able to influence their decision-making on the Pandurs order.
Dalik denies the charges.
The Prague Municipal Court convicted Dalik of having assisted an unspecified government member in bribery, but the appeals High Court re-classified the crime saying Dalik did not assist in bribe taking, but he attempted to commit a fraud.
The Supreme Court did not question the merit of the crime in its decision making. However, on the basis of its ruling, the High Court reviewed the legal qualification based on which Dalik was convicted.
The court had to primarily decide whether the case should be assessed according to the old or the new Penal Code. It concluded that the conviction based on the new Penal Code would be more favourable to Dalik.
Now it is clear that Dalik will return to prison soon.
He can file a complaint against Tuesday’s verdict with the Supreme Court again, but this cannot postpone his serving of the sentence.
The purchase of Pandurs worth 20.8 billion crowns was approved by the government of Jiri Paroubek (then Social Democrats, CSSD) in 2006. In late 2007, the government of Mirek Topolanek withdrew from the deal over a breach of the contractual conditions by the supplier, Steyr. Half a year later, the government approved a new deal, the purchase of 107 Pandurs for 14.4 billion crowns.
