The request is not in the best interests of the country, Klaus told Czech Radio Dec. 4.

Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlustý announced Nov. 30 that the government reached a truce with the Japanese bank Nomura over a long-running legal dispute concerning the government's forced administration of Nomura's failing subsidiary, IPB. The Czech Republic might have had to pay Nomura as much as 70 billion Kč ($3.3 billion) in compensation for its forced administration of IPB, Tlusty said. With the truce, the country will likely have to pay only several billion crowns.

The two parties agreed not to launch any further complaints over the matter.

What's more, Tlustý asked Klaus to pardon any Nomura managers investigated in the case. The government previously considered pressing criminal charges against Nomura managers if the company remained unwilling to pay the state for allegedly making illegal profits from IPB's downfall.

The pardon request was met with harsh criticism from across the political spectrum.

"Justice should not be on sale in this country," said shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Lubomí­r Zaorálek, of the Social Democrats (ČSSD), Dec. 1.

Tlustý said it was necessary to express goodwill by abandoning any criminal investigations.

"It is in the interest of settling this complex dispute," he told the daily Hospodářské noviny. "Of course, it's the president's decision; it won't alter the truce in any way."

Several high-level public officials, including members of Tlustý's Civic Democratic Party, are still calling for the Finance Ministry to reveal the conditions of the truce.

"People should have the right to know under what conditions the truce was signed," said former Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, of the ČSSD. "Then they would be able to see the benefits and risks of the truce."

Nomura said the state gave unfair aid to ČSOB — IPB's subsequent owner — worth 200 billion Kč. Nomura said the state should have used that money to prop up IPB before it collapsed.

The government claimed that Nomura stripped IPB of controlling stakes in the Pilsner Urquell and Radegast breweries worth 24 billion Kč in 1999, which contributed to IPB's failure.

Nomura allegedly sold the stock below market value, thus netting 7 billion Kč in profit. The state sought nearly 3 billion Kč in damages.

The Czech Republic has thus far spent more than 550 million Kč on the various arbitration proceedings.