Lower house approves parliamentary commission on Opencard case

The lower house of Parliament has approved the setting up of a special parliamentary commission which would supervise the investigation of alleged dubious tenders for Prague’s controversial multi-purpose Opencard project. Stanislav Huml,the Social Democrat deputy who tabled the proposal, said the commission would not in any way interfere with the work of the police and judiciary but would monitor their progress on the grounds of the evidence collected. The closely watched Opencard case involves charges of abuse of office and manipulation of public tenders against a dozen councilors, as well as the former and current mayors of Prague, Bohuslav Svoboda and Tomáš Hudeček. Verdicts against a number of suspects have already been passed, though they are not legally binding. The 9-member parliamentary commission should be set up next week.