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3 roads directorate managers charged with corruption named

  12:59

Former deputy head of young social democrats Michal Hala and lawyer Robert Wolf reportedly charged with former boss Laušman 

Michal Hala (center) foto: Česká televizeČeská pozice

The daily Hospodářské noviny (HN) reported Friday that former top manager of the Roads and Motorways directorate (ŘSD) Michal Hala, and former ŘSD lawyer Robert Wolf have been charged with corruption together with the agency’s former boss Petr Laušman following their arrest last week in connection with renting out state-owned land plots at knockdown rates in return for kickbacks.

Police reported on December 23 that three top managers from the ŘSD were charged following their arrest two days earlier. A number of media outlets reported the same day that the former head of the agency, Petr Laušman, was among those arrested. Citing sources close to the ŘSD, the daily HN reported on Friday (Dec. 30) that the other two who face charges are thirty-two-year-old Michal Hala and lawyer Robert Wolf.

Michal Hala came to the public’s attention in 2009 after he threw a lavish party on the banks of the Vltava River to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. The 300 or so guests at the party, reported to have cost some Kč 750,000, included prominent entrepreneurs from the construction sector and influential lobbyists. Soon after the celebration it emerged that Hala paid only Kč 100,000 towards the cost of his bash.

“They won’t want anything in return,” Hala told LN at the time referring to the construction magnets who reportedly footed the lion’s share of the bill. “I understand that today for some people concepts such as friendship and family are quite alien. But I don’t know, if someone cooks for you at home what they want for it,” Hala said.

In the past Hala entered rally racing under a pseudonym and was sponsored by the České Budějovice-based construction firm Edikt which won a number of highly lucrative contracts within multi-billion public-financed construction projects. He also has a law degree from the discredited law faculty of the University of West Bohemia (ZČU) in Plzeň. According to the weekly Ekonom, Hala’s dissertation work is uncannily similar to the work of other students.  

The three former ŘSD managers who face charges have not been named by police. An entrepreneur whose identity is not yet known was also charged.   

Police detained seven in the operation on December 21 during which Laušman was reportedly caught red-handed exchanging promissory notes with a value of Kč 15 million.  

The three ŘSD managers charged allegedly leased plots of land adjacent to the D5 and D47 motorways on which petrol stations and service facilities were built at well below market rates. According to Police Presidium spokesman Josef Ibehej, the scam could have cost the state up to Kč 264 million. 

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Velvyslanectví Alžírské demokratické a lidové republiky
Administrativní pracovník

Velvyslanectví Alžírské demokratické a lidové republiky
Praha