Klas: the prime minister bears responsibility for bugging scandal

Meanwhile, Jan Klas, the chairman of a watchdog commission overseeing the counter-intelligence service, the BIS, has responded to the Hojdar case by saying Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla bore responsibility for recent problems related to bugging and wiretapping in the Czech Republic. Speaking to the Czech news agency CTK Mr Klas said that the prime minister had helped create an atmosphere in which it was "not possible to trust anyone", pointing out that Mr Spidla regularly visited BIS offices to check wiretap reports. The Social Democrats' deputies group has called for an inquiry into the Hojdar case by Mr Klas' commission, the prime minister and ministers of interior, justice and defence, as well as the lower house's commission for military counter-intelligence service and police wiretapping supervision. Mr Klas, however, opposes the involvement of parliamentary bodies, saying they would "divert the problem from relevant institutions".