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Results vague in Čunek audit

Investigation fails to prove bribery, leaving questions unanswered

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 16th, 2008 issue

The financial investigation of Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek was published online July 14. Conducted by the U.S. agency Kroll, which dubbed it “Project Coronet,” the audit was launched May 12 at the request of Foreign Affairs Minster Karel Schwarzenberg, who paid for it.
Schwarzenberg had promised to resign from his post if the report failed to clear Čunek of bribery. The report was delivered June 30, but Schwarzenberg chose not to release it until after the signing of the Czech-U.S. radar treaty.
The results are inconclusive at best. While the report states that the alleged bribery is unlikely to have taken place, it by no means clears Čunek completely. Kroll was not provided 700 key pages of the police file about the case.
Kroll also discovered that Čunek did not fully disclose to police details of his income in the 1990s when he worked as a part-time consultant for arms manufacturer Zbrojovka Vsetín and secured several government contracts for it thanks to his party contacts, according to witnesses interviewed by Kroll. For his services, Čunek was paid in cash earmarked as travel expenses that could not be taxed. Time restraints prevented Kroll from investigating these findings in depth.
“We have limited our activities to the most directly relevant issues with a much broader possible scope. A number of issues remain outstanding and could provide a basis for further work,” the report stated.
These outstanding issues, and the fact that Kroll also criticized the work of the police and state attorneys, have led Schwarzenberg to postpone his decision about resignation.
“I would like to commission another audit that would deal with these new findings and also check the missing 700 pages. That will have to be approved by political leaders,” Schwarzenberg told journalists at a July 14 press conference, adding that his promise to resign still holds if Čunek is not cleared.
Other reactions are mixed. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Deputy Martin Bursík have both said they see no reason for either of the involved men to resign.
“I am extremely happy with the result,” Čunek, who is currently on holiday in Croatia, told Czech TV July 15. “It shows that I have been telling the truth all along.”

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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