Omnipol Group reacts to PM’s criticism

The Omnipol group has said it is ready to meet contractual obligations over the exchange of five L-159 fighter jets for Spanish-made CASA transport planes. The statement is reaction to criticism by the prime minister earlier this week, centring on Omnipol as a mediator in the deal with EADS, the CASA manufacturer. The government says the reason that it signed a deal on the CASA planes was to be able to get a deal on the L-159s; it later came to light that Spain was not interested. In their joint press conference with Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra on Tuesday, Prime Minister Petr Nečas hit out at mediating firms, calling them as “parasitical” and saying that the days when the Defence Ministry had served as a kind of cash cow were over. According to controversial legislation from 1994, the defence ministry cannot buy arms directly from foreign producers – a law the current government wants to change.