Brno, Aug 8 (CTK) – The presidium of the South Moravia Regional executive committee of the Czech senior government Social Democrats (CSSD) took note of the explanation of the “false spokeswoman” offered by regional Governor Michal Hasek (CSSD) on Monday.
It also dismissed the challenging of the list of candidates for the autumn regional elections and its leader, or Hasek himself.
“Others, not me, are telling lies,” Hasek told journalists after the presidium’s meeting.
He said the whole thing is an election campaign which wants to make him untrustworthy.
The Greens and the Pirates called on Hasek last week to resign as the regional governor and leader of the CSSD list of candidates in South Moravia.
The junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) in South Moravia also wanted an explanation.
Roman Hanak, chairman of the CSSD regional committee, however, says the matter is a “pseudo-case.”
The discussion on the methods of media promotion of the South Moravia Region was triggered by an article carried by daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD).
Press releases about Hasek’s activities and his statements were sent to journalists from the e-mail of an alleged spokeswoman, Lucie Proutnikova, for several years. Hasek said previously he does not know any Proutnikova.
Proutnikova is the female form of the word Proutnik, which means a lecher.
According to MfD and the testimony by Denisa Kapitancikova, former official spokeswoman for the region, there exists no Proutnikova. According to them, the e-mails were sent by lobbyist Jana Mrencova.
Hasek and current regional spokeswoman Eliska Windova gradually sent several different statements to the media.
Windova said last wekk the region does not deny cooperation with Mrencova.
Hasek said on Monday the region did not directly cooperate with her, but with the marketing centre Profil, which is interconnected with Mrencova, according to the media.
He said cooperation with the agency is in order, but added that the region will still overview the contracts and documents on the results of cooperation in promotion.
Where the documentation will not be sufficient, the agency will be asked to complete it. Unless it does so, the regional authority will demand the returning of the adequate part of the money, Hasek said.
He said the region has cooperated with Profil since 2010, but he did not say how much the region paid to it gradually. This year, it has more than 400,000 crowns, including VAT. But it was not destined for promotion of the governor, but the region, Hasek said.
He said the region is saving money because it does not pay for the publication of its own periodical, which previous methods did not allow.
Hasek says he does not know any Proutnikova. “I do not know who she is, whether she exists,” he said.
The media also informed in the past days about contracts signed with firms connected with the lobbyist who has been given a suspended sentence for having offered a municipal politician to influence journalists in exchange for money. The verdict is not valid as yet.
Information has also appeared according to which the region paid for positive articles about itself posted on the parlamentnilisty.cz and krajskelisty.cz portals.
Hasek previously called the critical writings about him and the region as a tarnishing campaign unleashed by the paper of the government ANO movement.
MfD is owned by Finance Minister and ANO head Andrej Babis, who would like to beat the CSSD in the election.
