Oldrich Chodera, lawyer of Kalousek (Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), has turned to the Kroll detective Lost part of Czech Cunek files not to change audit result-Krolls ...
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Czech deputy PM Cunek files complaint against judge ... agency, that worked out Cunek's audit, and Dancak in a letter. The audit writes that Cunek, then safety technician in Zbrojovka Vsetin, north Moravia, may have been lobbying at the Defence Ministry in favour of Zbrojovka to gain the government order for the Plamen (Flame) gun for the Czech-made L-159 aircraft. Cunek, junior ruling KDU-CSL chairman, local development minister and senator, was accused of bribery in spring 2007, but his prosecution was later halted.
However, some of his financial deals have remained unclear. The Kroll audit was ordered by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for Greens) who said he would not sit with Cunek in the government unless his financial situation is clarified. The audit was primarily to find out whether Cunek accepted a half-a-million-crown bribe when he was mayor of Vsetin. The results of the audit that Schwarzenberg paid himself and released last week are favourable for Cunek. Schwarzenberg said on Sunday he considers the investigation by the Kroll agency into Cunek's property situation almost closed and that the agency does not expect anything new to be uncovered. The Kroll detectives concluded that Cunek was not bribed, but they revealed he might gain high finances for lobbying for Zbrojovka. Cunek allegedly received a high reward in the form of per diem that is not subject to taxation for his trips to the Defence Ministry ministry in Prague, which could explain the big difference between his official income and his savings he deposited in banks. Cunek confirmed it, but he refused to specify the sum he received as per diem. Kalousek, then deputy defence responsible for the L-159 project, was mentioned in the Kroll report. He categorically dismissed that he or any of his then subordinates at the Defence Ministry had ever negotiated with Cunek. Kroll investigator Tommy Helsby said it was Dancak who mentioned Kalousek's name, saying Kalousek had contacts with Cunek at the Defence Ministry in the 1990s. This is why Kalousek's lawyer demands an apology from Dancak as well. "I consider it a question of my honour and prestige of the Defence Ministry and the government to demand an apology from those who have spread the lie and to refute this libel," Kalousek told reporters last week Helsby stressed in an interview for CTK that the audit did not indicate that the lobbying was inappropriate since Kalousek was then responsible for the purchase of a product from Cunek's employer. However, Kalousek said Cunek could not lobby for the armament producer since he occupied the post of a safety technician only, while general directors or hired experts usually lobby for their projects. Zbrojovka Vsetin won the contract worth 1.3 billion crowns in September 1995, but the company and the ministry faced problems with the development and production of the gun. (USD1=14.483 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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