Spokesman says head of BIS will explain intelligence service activities

Jan Šubert, the spokesman for the Czech intelligence service BIS has said its director, Jiří Lang, will explain to the Parliamentary commission overseeing its activities, conversations between controversial lobbyist Roman Janoušek and intelligence officers dating back to 2007. On Friday, the Czech website Euro.cz suggested that the lobbyist – who is the centre of a major scandal also involving former mayor Pavel Bém – had maintained influence not only at Prague City Hall but even within the security service.

The news site provided transcripts of alleged conversations involving Mr Janoušek, which were also published in hard copy on Monday. BIS spokesman Jan Šubert strongly criticised the article, suggesting that Euro.cz had heavily manipulated the material. He said earlier that the intelligence service regularly communicated with individuals from various circles - including lobbyists - to better protect the state’s economic and security interests.