Czechs bought CASA planes at twice the price as Portugal

The Czech Republic paid nearly twice as much for Spanish-made CASA military transport aircraft as Portugal, the Czech daily Lidové noviny reported on Wednesday, quoting the British review The Military Balance. In 2009, the Czech army paid over 51.7 million US dollars for each of the four planes while Portugal bought 12 CASA aircraft in 2008 for 27.1 million US dollars apiece. However, the final cost might be even higher as the Czech authorities agreed to pay for three planes and exchange the fourth for five Czech-made L-159 combat planes. In that case, the overall price of the deal would reach 3.5 billion crowns. The paper says that former defence ministry officials responsible for the deal, including then minister Vlasta Parkanová, refused to comment on the case.