Police investigating firms involved in construction of Temelin

Czech police are investigating some of the firms involved in the building of the Czech nuclear power station Temelin in the early 1990s, the Aktualne.cz news website wrote on Thursday. Police suspect that the state could have paid as much as 100 million CZK (5 million USD) for work firms claimed to have done, and that was in fact fictitious. The anti-corruption police unit has confirmed that it is in the process of investigating, but has refused to reveal any details.

The alarm was raised by German detectives investigating a Westphalian firm on charges of money laundering. Their investigations led them to find millions of crowns deposited in this firm's accounts by Czech companies that had been involved in the construction of Temelin.