Chief aide to prime minister sacked over alleged corruption

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek sacked his chief aide on Monday over allegations of corruption relating to the June 2004 privatisation of Unipetrol, a major Czech oil and chemicals group. Several days ago, the prime minister received an incriminating cassette tape of his aide, Zdenek Dolezel, discussing the deal with a foreign lobbyist -- and reacting with silence to allegations that ruling Social Democrat party members had sought bribes to approve the sale.

The government has released few details about the tape recording that led to the dismissal of Zdenek Dolezel as chief aide to the prime minister, but has promised to file criminal charges. A spokeswoman for Jiri Paroubek said that Dolezel had met outside government offices with a lobbyist -- a "gross violation" of work practices. She said in a statement that there were "signs of corruption" by Dolezal "in his role as a public servant".

Thus far only one newspaper, the best-selling tabloid Blesk, has published a story directly linking the prime minister's former chief aide to corruption. The paper wrote that Mr Dolezel can be heard on tape asking for a bribe of roughly $200,000, a charge that he has emphatically denied, while maintaining his complete innocence.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has said that Dolezel was sacked because he failed to react to the Polish lobbyist's allegations that senior Social Democrat party members had sought bribes in connection with the Unipetrol sale to Poland's PKN Orlen. Paroubek said that Dolezel should have reacted to those allegations by immediately leaving the meeting.

Among the Social Democrat party members that Polish lobbyist Jacek Spyra allegedly referred to on tape as having accepted bribes is former prime minister Stanislav Gross, for whom Dolezel was also chief aide before Jiri Paroubek came to office.

In a comment that seems to suggest that he has heard the tape recording, Mr Gross, the current Social Democrat party chairman, told the daily Pravo that Dolezel had, quote, "told a pack of lies concerning many people, including myself".

The sale of Unipetrol last year to Poland's PKN Orlen, for $540 million, was among the largest privatisations in Czech history. Allegations of government corruption have long surrounded the deal.

This June, the Polish company's new management filed a criminal complaint over what it called "disadvantageous" contracts the previous management had signed with the Czech company Agrofert as "payoffs" to domestic politicians. The head of Agrofert is said to be a close friend of former prime minister Stanislav Gross.