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MoD at center of police probe into ‘largest-ever’ Czech corruption case

  14:30

The scandal-plagued Defense Ministry is hit by allegations that 30 public tenders worth at least Kč 300 million in total were ‘rigged’

Vlasta Parkanová was defense minister for part of the period in which the suspect tenders were held; her then deputy, Martin Barták (right), figures in the Tatra and Iveco cases foto: © ČTKČeská pozice

Czech anti-corruption police have recommended that criminal charges be brought against 54 people in relation to the alleged manipulation of public tenders issued by the Defense Ministry between 2005 and 2007. The police have prepared charges of operating a criminal organization against 18 of the 54 suspects.  In terms of the number of suspects, the case is the largest ever investigated by the police’s anti-corruption division.Charges may include abuse of office by state employees, fraud, manipulation of public tenders, and acceptance of bribes.      

Of the 54 against whom the anti-corruption police have prepared charges, 10 were employees of the ministry during the period in question. “There were people both from the Defense Ministry and from the commercial sector who together arranged the public orders and decided who would win the tenders,” anti-corruption police spokesman Roman Skřepek told public news channel ČT 24 on Thursday.

According to the police, the mechanism for rigging the public tenders — mostly worth dozens of millions of crowns each — was highly sophisticated, with some firms placing offers just for appearances in full knowledge that another bidder was certain to win a given contract. These colluding firms were then awarded with other contracts.    

The investigation concluded that many of the suspect orders were issued for construction and building repair works that were not necessary. 

The anti-corruption has sent the recommendation for charges to be pressed to the Regional State Prosecution Service in České Budějovice. The recommended charges include abuse of office by state employees, fraud, manipulation of public tender and auction, contravention of binding rules for economic relations, and acceptance of bribes.

Work of a ‘criminal organization’       

The 18 people who are suspected of involvement in a criminal organization “apparently formed a stable secret grouping which was organized according to influence and possibilities and based specifically upon personal contacts, position of employment or share of business,” Skřepek said.

The suspects allegedly manipulated at least 30 public tenders worth a total of at least Kč 300 million. Police in Litoměřice, Brno, České Budějovice, Pardubice and Prague took part in the investigation.

One of the suspects is the former head of the Defense Ministry’s property management section, Václav Regner, who told ČT 24 that the charges against him are bogus. ‘I’ve been implicated because I was an inconvenience at the Defense Ministry.’ “The actions relating to me personally are fabricated. I’ve been implicated because I was an inconvenience at the Defense Ministry,” Regner said.

During the period when the allegedly rigged tenders and contracts were issued (2005–2007), there were three different Ministers of Defense — Karel Kühnl (Freedom Union, US), Jiří Šedivý (Civic Democrats, ODS) and Vlasta Parkanová (Christian Democrats, KDU-ČSL).

It is unclear whether Martin Barták (ODS), who served as first deputy defense minister under Parkanová and then became minister in 2009 and remained at the post until July 2010 is implicated in the charges recommended by the anti-corruption police on Feb. 17. 

Barták was put under police investigation following allegations by William J. Cabannis, a former US ambassador to the Czech Republic, that he had solicited a bribe at a diplomatic event in February 2008. The alleged incident took place after Cabannis had left his diplomatic posting and become supervisory board chairman of Tatra, which had a Kč 2.7 billion contract with the Czech military.

In November 2010, Barták, who had left the Defense Ministry and taken a post as deputy finance minister, was put on suspended leave. Apart from the Tatra affair, he has also been investigated over for his role in the Kč 3.6 billion procurement of 90 light transporters from the firm Iveco.

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