Jourova says she acted on former PMs orders

Former deputy local development ministr Vera Jourova, who has been accused of mishandling EU structural funds told police investigators on Thursday that she acted under indirect pressure from the former Social Democrat prime ministr Jiri Paroubek. Mrs. Jourova said that Mr. Paroubek's assistent Martin Vlasta relayed the prime minister's orders which were that she should favour certain applicants. Besides Vera Jourova, three men have been accused of corruption in the same case. They are Zdenek Dolezel, a former senior aide to two former Social Democrat prime ministers, Ladislav Peta, mayor of the town of Budisov, and Miloslav Rehulka, an Agriculture Ministry employee. All three have been in custody since Friday.

The former prime minister and Social Democrat leader has reacted with anger to the accusations saying that they were a pack of lies intended to discredit him in the eyes of the public. He is also demanding an investigation into who leaked the police records to the media.