OKD commission asks police to intervene after Bakala no-show

A lower house commission investigating the controversial privatisation of the OKD mining company has asked the police to intervene after financier Zdeněk Bakala ignored a summons to give testimony on Tuesday. Mr. Bakala, who at one point owned OKD, is based in Switzerland.

Chairman Lukáš Černohorský said that the same laws applied to rich and poor and that the commission had no alternative but to ask the police to ensure that Mr. Bakala testify.

OKD was sold by the state to the company Karbon Invest for a price critics say was far below the market value. Mr. Bakala’s RPG Industries purchased Karbon Invest just a few months later. OKD is now in bankruptcy.