MfD: Police have new evidence in connection with alleged corruption case

The police have new evidence in connection with the alleged solicitation of a huge bribe in connection with a contract to buy armoured personnel carriers for the Czech Army, the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Monday. The evidence consists of the transcription of a 2007 conversation with lobbyist Marek Dalík made by Victor Jackovich, a former US diplomat and an advisor to the Austrian firm Steyr, which sold over 100 Pandur vehicles to the Czech state in a deal worth CZK 14.4 billion. In the document, Mr. Jackovich says Mr. Dalík, a close associate of then Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek, asked for a bribe of nearly half a billion crowns. Mr. Dalík has been under investigation since his arrest last year.