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End of Čunek case raises more questions

Corruption investigation mired by politics

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 15th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
The news that allegations against Čunek have been dropped is mired in controversy over the credibility of key witnesses.
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The lengthy corruption investigation of Jiří Čunek, deputy prime minister and regional development minister, ended with a scandal.
Surprisingly, it’s not the politician who triggered it.
A virtual war of state prosecutors broke out Aug. 8 after Jihlava prosecutor Arif Salichov shocked all by clearing Čunek of all accusations against him.
In the meantime, he himself accused the police and a fellow prosecutor of manipulating facts. Salichov, who took over the case from Radim Obst two months ago, said the police were working toward accusing Čunek.
“In my 30-year professional career, I’ve never come across such a biased investigation,” Salichov said. He said the principal testimony against Čunek was not trustworthy because the key witness, Čunek’s former secretary Marcela Urbanová, most likely made up the accusations.
The investigation of Čunek stirred controversy on the political scene as he became the country’s first-ever Cabinet minister to be investigated for corruption during his term in office.
The investigation began in January, when Urbanová reported to police that Čunek had accepted a 497 million Kč ($24.3 million) bribe as mayor of Vsetín, east Moravia, five years ago. Čunek reportedly received the money from H & B Real, a real estate company, as a treat for the town hall’s preferential treatment in granting public orders.
Urbanová said Čunek openly talked about the bribe in her presence. Meanwhile, Čunek rejected the accusation and said Urbanová merely wanted to take revenge on him. Urbanová has publicly lamented that she had not received sufficient support for her own business from Vsetín town hall when she left her secretarial job back in 2005 to open a café.
Prosecutors’ war
An unexpected turn occurred in June, just one day before state prosecutor Obst was scheduled to issue his final verdict on whether Čunek would face a court tribunal.
Chief state prosecutor Renata Vesecká made a last-minute decision to take the case from Obst’s hands, giving it to Salichov.
Vesecká argued that details from the investigation were leaked to the public and that improper handling of evidence was at the root of her decision.
After examining the evidence, Salichov said the investigation practices of his predecessors were controversial.
“Salichov’s proceedings were justified, and he had to make up for the mistakes of his predecessors,” said Salichov’s supervisor, Petr Coufal.
In protest, Obst and five of his colleagues withdrew from the Union of State Prosecutors. He said Salichov’s criticism was inappropriate and was in contradiction with the prosecutors’ ethics.
Obst’s supervisor, Jana Staňková, meanwhile, insisted Salichov’s criticism of Obst was not valid. “We therefore submitted an appeal to the prosecutors’ union against Salichov,” she said.
Political suspicions
The affair’s political context has led some to question Salichov’s timing in dropping the investigation.
Salichov cleared Čunek, who is the chairman of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) just one week before the voting on crucial public finance reform in Parliament.
Given the fragile majority of the ruling coalition — composed of the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Green Party — unanimous support of all coalition deputies was needed.
“It looks as if there were a political order,” said chairman of the senior opposition Social Democrats (ČSSD), Jiří Paroubek. He did not, however, specify from whom.
Čunek has also repeatedly pointed out that Urbanová raised accusations against him days after he had been appointed to the Cabinet, five years after she stepped down from Vsetín town hall.
Čunek hinted Urbanová could have been manipulated by someone who wished to further weaken the government.
Urbanová now says she is determined to continue legal action against Čunek, even as police begin to investigate her claims. Meanwhile, opposition politicians are ready to question Vesecká in Parliament about the personnel changes in the investigation team.
Salichov left for vacation moments after announcing his verdict, escaping from immediate questioning.
In order to avoid problems with state prosecutors in the future, ČSSD Deputy Milan Urban said, the election term of the chief state prosecutor should be fixed and should not overlap the electoral term of the government. That should guarantee the prosecutor’s independence from the ruling government, Urban said.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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