Aktualne.cz: military has paid billions to arms intermediaries over 12 years

The Czech military has paid over ten billion crowns to the arms intermediary Omnipol and related companies over the past 12 years, the news website Aktualne.cz reports. Citing a Defence Ministry analysis, the site writes that the payments increased particularly under the government of Mirek Topolaenk between 2007 and May of 2009. The Defence Ministry says it will be drafting an amendment to the respective law that would allow the state to buy weapons without intermediaries. The ministerial report does not specify how much the companies in question received for particular deals because the ministry does not have these data; Omnipol´s annual reports, however, show commissions running into the hundreds of millions.