Former PM faces legal complaint over purchase of shares

Former Social Democrat prime minister Stanislav Gross is facing a legal complaint on the suspicion of insider dealing in connection with the purchase of shares. The complaint was filed by Jiri Jehlicka, of the Central Registry of Debtors (CERD), running web pages and an anti-corruption hotline. According to Mr Jehlicka, Mr Gross may have abused information while in politics in a business deal that has now seen him acquire a reported 300 million crowns (more than 15 million US dollars) worth of shares in energy producer Moravia Energo. Mr Gross himself has valued the shares at a tenth of that amount. The opposition Social Democrats have called on the former prime minister to explain his holdings, with party deputy leader Bohuslav Sobotka saying that although Mr Gross was now a private citizen it was in his interest, as a former prime minister, not to keep information secret.

It has been almost three years since a financial scandal forced Stanislav Gross - then the youngest prime minister in Europe - from office. Mr Gross was unable to explain where he obtained 1.2 million crowns for the purchase of his apartment.