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12/06/2007
Czech police have formally brought charges against Frantisek Prochazka, who is alleged to have stolen half a billion crowns (nearly 31 million USD) from the security firm he worked for as a guard. Mr Prochazka has been missing since last Saturday, when the theft occurred. On Thursday, a police spokesperson said that prosecution had been launched against Mr Prochazka in absentia. The robbery has been called the ‘theft of the century’ by the Czech press. The security firm which lost these millions of crowns has offered a reward of 2 million Euros to anyone who helps catch Mr Prochazka. No further comment has been made by the police about the robbery as they fear that any information leak could hamper their ongoing investigation.
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12/06/2007
Countess Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld has lost her appeal to hold onto the Opocno chateau in eastern Bohemia. The Supreme Court in Brno judged on Thursday that the ruling of a regional court last September, which transferred the chateau from her ownership and back to the state, was correct. Opocno chateau was the historic home of the Mansfeld family until it was confiscated by the Nazis in 1942. The castle then came under state control in 1945, under decree of Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes. The family has been fighting to regain ownership of Opocno chateau since 1995. The property was handed over to the Colloredo-Mansfelds four years ago, but last September a regional court in Hradec Kralove reversed this decision. The chateau is one of the most visited heritage sites in the region. The Mansfeld family is considering taking its case to the European Court.
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12/06/2007
According to a Transparency International poll released on Thursday, 60% of Czechs think that the government’s fight against corruption will prove unsuccessful. The centre-right government has outlined the battle against corruption as ‘one of its major priorities’. Forty-four percent of Czechs said that they thought corruption levels in their country would rise over the next couple of years. Transparency International placed the Czech Republic in the medium corruption bracket, alongside Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria. A spokesperson said that Czechs rank amongst the most mistrustful of their government’s anti-corruption measures in the world. Thirteen percent of Czechs said that they had paid a bribe in the last year.
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12/06/2007
An Israeli citizen has lost his appeal against a five-year jail sentence which he was handed following a grenade attack in central Prague in 2004. Yakov Moshaylov injured 17 people when he threw a grenade at casino owner Assaf Abutboul’s vehicle. Mr Abutboul survived the attack. In June this year, Mr Moshaylov was sent to prison and immediately appealed. But on Thursday, the Prague High Court upheld the original judge’s ruling. As Mr Moshaylov has already spent 3 years in custody, it is thought that he will soon be released on probation.
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12/06/2007
A Czech railways inquiry has judged that former F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi endangered the lives of passengers on a high-speed train between Prague and Brno. The Brazilian double world champion was travelling to a motorbike race in October when the incident happened. Fittipaldi had been allowed in the train driver’s compartment for publicity shots by Ceske drahy – the Czech rail operator, but fell foul of the rules when he ‘moved without permission a lever influencing the functioning of the passenger train’, the rail inspectorate said in a statement. The 60 year old Brazilian will find out later what punishment he faces.
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12/05/2007
Parliament has approved the 2008 state budget. Of the 200 member lower house 100 deputies supported the bill, 97 were against. A single coalition deputy – Vera Jakubkova of the Green Party – refused to support the budget on the grounds that it fails to address pressing environmental concerns. She absented herself from the vote. The budget was approved thanks to two renegade deputies from the Social Democratic Party.
The 2008 budget proposal envisages expenditures of 1,107 billion crowns. With a projected deficit of 70.8 billion crowns the budget meets one of the basic EU criteria for adopting the euro - a deficit below 3 percent of the GDP. According to Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek the division of funds reflects the government's priorities in the field of science, research, education and infrastructure.
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12/05/2007
The centre-right coalition government on Wednesday survived a no-confidence motion initiated by the opposition Social Democrats. The three-party cabinet, which controls just 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house, has faced a number of crises since its appointment to office but the opposition gathered just 97 votes for its dismissal. This is the second attempt to bring down the government by the Social Democrats.
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12/05/2007
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has said it was premature to think about Christian Democrat leader Jiri Cunek’s return to government. He advised the Christian Democrats to consider an interim period during which time some other party nominee would head the Local Development Ministry. Mr. Cunek was forced to resign over corruption allegations five weeks ago but state prosecutors have since dropped criminal proceedings against him. His party leadership has now expressed support for his reinstatement.
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12/05/2007
The prime minister’s cautious stand comes in the wake of strong protests from the Green Party, another of the three parties in the coalition government. Greens leader Martin Bursik said that Mr. Cunek’s return to government would be extremely unfortunate. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg – a minister for the Green Party - said that enabling his return would amount to political suicide on the part of the government and even some Civic Democratic party members have advised caution.
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12/05/2007
The Senate has approved an amendment to the foreigners’ law that will make life harder for non EU foreigners seeking residence in the Czech Republic. According to the proposal non-EU foreigners who marry Czech citizens will no longer acquire a residence permit immediately but only after a period of two years. The amendment will also toughen conditions for asylum seekers. Interior Minister Ivan Langer says the tougher rules are necessary in view of the country joining the Schengen border free zone in two weeks time.
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