Lower house committee to debate president’s claim that intelligence spied on people close to him

The Committee for the Control of the Security Information Service (BIS) in the lower house will meet on Thursday to debate President Miloš Zeman‘s claim that the counterintelligence service had spied on people close to him. The chairman of the commission, Pavel Bělobrádek said the head of the BIS, Michal Koudelka, would also be present at the meeting.

In an interview for the daily Blesk, President Miloš Zeman said the counterintelligence service BIS had wiretapped people close to him. Mr. Zeman said the head of the service, Michal Koudelka, had personally ordered the wiretappings several years ago. He added they had eventually been stopped at his request by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

The prime minister has denied this, telling the ctk news agency that he does not have the power to issue such an order.