Souckova was prosecuted for having signed a contract between the Health Ministry and lawyer Zdenek Novacek on legal aid in the state's dispute with Diag Human company.
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AI says world leaders failing in human rights ... faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Souckova left the current senior opposition Social Democratic Party (CSSD) after she was charged. Under the contract, Novacek received 10 million crowns for representing the state. He was to get another 10 million crowns if the contract were annulled, and 170 million crowns if he had won the suit with Diag Human. According to the charges, Souckova hired Novacek though she knew she should have transferred the case to the Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs. In the early 1990's, Diag Human wanted to trade in blood plasma from Czech transfusion stations, but the project fell through after an unfavourable comment on the firm by the then health minister. The government has already paid 326.6 million crowns to Diag Human in compensation for harming its good name. Souckova is one of the three Czech cabinet ministers who have been sued since the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Former finance minister Ivo Svoboda (CSSD) is now serving a five-year prison sentence for stripping a company of assets. Former IT minister Vladimir Mlynar (Freedom Union-DS) was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for abuse of office and insider dealing, but an appeals court later definitely acquitted him of charges. (USD1=14.614 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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