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07/16/2008
This part of the Kroll report has angered Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek since it suggests that Mr. Čunek successfully lobbied for a Vsetín armament company at the time when Mr. Kalousek was defense minister. Minister Kalousek categorically rejected the idea that he or any of his subordinates had negotiated with Jiří Čunek at the time and ruled out that Mr. Čunek had been in a position to influence any armament contract or obtain sensitive information on the subject. The finance minister said he was considering legal steps against the Kroll detective agency.
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07/16/2008
The state attorney has dropped criminal proceedings against the head of the Prison Service Luděk Kula, on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Kula was accused of breach of trust and mismanagement of state funds in connection with an order for mobile telephone jamming systems in prisons, as a result of which the state lost out on twenty million crowns. Kula says there was no ill-intent on his part and that he had simply been poorly advised on financial matters.
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07/16/2008
Local and Senate elections in the Czech Republic are to take place on October 17 -18th, the President’s Office announced on Wednesday. Candidates to both regional assemblies and the upper house of parliament must submit their candidacies by August 12th. Local elections will take place in all 13 regions. In the Senate, one third of the 81 mandates will be contested. Under the election law, the president must declare the elections 90 days ahead of the scheduled date.
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07/16/2008
Czech archer Milan Andreas has tested positive for marijuana and is set to miss the Beijing Olympics, the Czech Olympic Committee told the CTK news agency on Tuesday. The 19-year-old said he had taken marijuana in September last year without a thought for the consequences. He said he was bitterly disappointed to have to miss the Olympics which should have been the height of his career.
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07/16/2008
An ultra-light plane crashed in a filed near the town of Hradec Králové on Wednesday, bursting into flames upon impact. The pilot died in the wreckage. It is not clear what caused the accident.
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07/16/2008
The Senate is to start debating a constitutional change to the election law which would open the way to direct presidential elections. There is general agreement across the board that this should be done but there is still controversy over whether the president’s mandate should be broader once the head of state is elected by the people. Several amendments are being proposed. Opinion surveys indicate that the majority of Czechs want to elect their president in a direct vote. However making the change will not be easy. All constitutional changes must be approved by three fifth of deputies in the lower house and three fifth of senators.
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07/16/2008
The Czech Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced a squad of 130 athletes for next month's Beijing Olympics where they are hoping to equal the eight medals won in Athens and Sydney. Top medal hopes include gold medal winner from Athens, decathlete Roman Sebrle, and world javelin champion Barbora Spotakova. New names can still be added to the list ahead of the July 22 deadline.
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07/15/2008
The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, is making a three-day visit to the Olympic Games in Beijing next month. However, Mr Topolánek told reporters he would arrive on August 13, meaning he will miss the opening ceremony, which takes place five days earlier. The Czech cabinet had recommended that the prime minister stay away from the opening following a violent Chinese crackdown on Tibet earlier this year. Mr Topolánek said on Tuesday he had accepted an invitation from the Czech Olympic Committee to support the country’s athletes in Beijing.
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07/15/2008
The head of the smallest party in the coalition the Greens says they will pull out of the government if restrictions on heavy trucks on Czech roads are not extended to cover Fridays all year around. Greens leader and environment minister Martin Bursík called for a cabinet meeting to discuss the matter after, following negotiations with hauliers, Prime Minister Topolánek said talks on the subject had been postponed until the second half of August. Mr Bursík said introducing year-round restrictions on Friday evenings was part of the coalition agreement; if they are not introduced, the prime minister will have to look for a new coalition partner, he said.
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07/15/2008
An audit that seemed to clear controversial politician Jiří Čunek of corruption has not actually been completed. The website tyden.cz reported that 700 pages of information about his personal finances had not been supplied by Mr Čunek to the US agency investigating his books. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg – who threatened to quit the cabinet if the Christian Democrats leader was not exonerated – said the audit would continue. Mr Schwarzenberg told the newspaper Lidové noviny on Tuesday that he had also ordered an audit into the work of the police and the state attorney’s office in connection with Mr Čunek. The latter resigned as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development in November because of an investigation into allegations that he took a bribe while he was mayor of a town in Moravia. When the state attorney definitively halted that probe he returned to cabinet. Jiří Čunek has been involved in a series of controversies, including over seemingly racist comments he made about Romanies.
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