Doležel acquitted of Unipetrol fraud

On Thursday, A Prague court acquitted Zdeněk Doležel of charges of attempted fraud in connection with the privatisation of Unipetrol. Mr Doležel was suspected of demanding a 5 million CZK (250,000 USD) bribe from a Polish businessman when he was secretary to the prime minister in 2005. Jacek Spyra says that he was asked for millions of crowns by Mr Doležel, in return for bringing the firm that Mr Spyra represented back into negotiations. Mr Spyra’s claims appeared to have been reinforced by footage recorded secretly by TV Nova, which shows Mr Doležel asking for ‘five million in Czech’ during one of their meetings. Mr Doležel insists, however, that this was a coded statement meaning something completely different. It is not yet clear whether today’s verdict will be appealed.