News

The Supreme Public Prosecutor Renata Vesecká has reopened an investigation into a case of alleged corruption in the purchase of Jas-39 Gripen fighter jets planned by the Social Democrat government back in 2002. The government in power then approved the purchase of 24 jets from BAE systems/SAAB for 60.2 billion crowns but the deal did not get the necessary backing in Parliament, and was eventually replaced by a later contract, in which the Czech Republic leased 14 jets for 20 billion crowns for ten years. A police investigation into the original deal was twice shelved but a review ordered by the supreme state attorney in December reportedly found the decision to shelve the case was unlawful and premature. According to a spokeswoman for the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, the evidence compiled so far has not sufficiently ruled out corruption in the case.

The foreign minister, Jan Kohout, has told the Czech weekly Respekt that the Czech ambassador to the EU, Milena Vicenová, will be recalled from her post. The weekly published the information on its website on Friday. In the interview, Mr Kohout confirmed the move was part of a number of changes in Czech ambassadorial posts abroad. Earlier, it was speculated that Mrs Vicenová could be succeeded by the Czech ambassador to Greece. Foreign Minister Kohout, meanwhile, is due to meet with Mrs Vicenová on Monday to discuss possible moves; he said that he was expecting her to stay on in Czech diplomacy if she wants to do so.

A fire on Thursday evening destroyed a small cottage in the east of the country belonging to the family of one the suspects in the Vítkov firebombing case. The blaze began shortly after one am and took fire fighters roughly an hour to put out. No one was hurt in the incident; the damage has been estimated at 250 thousand crowns. News website Novinky quoted the mother of suspect Václav Cojocar - one of four people charged with last year’s attack in Vítkov – as saying the fire was retaliation for her son. He and three others have been charged with racially-motivated attempted murder, suspected of having thrown Molotov cocktails into a Romany family home in Vítkov that left a two-year-old girl with severe burns and possibly lifelong trauma. Officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire at the family cottage.

A 37-year-old Czech man died in Marseille, France, on Thursday, after being shot several times, the AFP news agency has reported. The man, who was not identified, was brought to hospital alive but failed to regain consciousness before succumbing to his wounds. French investigators have suggested that the killing was an underworld settling of accounts. The police will search the apartment of one of two Armenian nationals who brought the Czech to hospital, but failed to give a proper account of what transpired leading up to the shooting. Both are being held in custody. AFP pointed out that Marseille has long suffered a poor reputation when it comes to crime, seeing more than 40 cases of murder or attempted murder last year.