Nevertheless, junior ruling Greens (SZ) chairman Martin Bursik said on Sunday, after reading the financial audit's summary, that the audit revealed no reason for Cunek's dismissal and that Schwarzenberg, who promised to resign if the audit result were negative for Cunek, would stay in the cabinet. A Czech Greens head criticises PM over Lisbon treaty ...
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Czech KDU-CSL head to release decision on halting his prosecution ... number of questions in the case of Czech Deputy PM Jiri Cunek, Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) chairman, have remained unclear though the audit allegedly did not prove a dubious origin of his finances, Martin Komarek writes in the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) today. The truth about Cunek will be neither black nor white, he adds. As Cunek's prosecution on suspicion of bribery was definitively halted, the audit was mainly to find out how Cunek gained two million crowns in his account, which he never clearly explained to the public. However, it seems that the public will not learn it from the audit either, Komarek says, adding that strange circumstances accompany the audit's release. It is hard to believe that Schwarzenberg did not manage to study the audit that he received for over a weeks ago and that he can release it only next week after the text is translated.
The time in between must have been filled with political disputes about the interpretation of Cunek's audit, Komarek points out. "[PM Mirek] Topolanek, Bursik, Schwarzenberg and Cunek were then looking for the way how not to split the government and to satisfy the curious public. And they found it eventually," Komarek says. Nevertheless, the biggest scandal of Topolanek's government has not been closed though people now know that Cunek is not corrupt and he was able to beat back the attack. The answer to the questions stirred up by Cunek's case is also the answer to the question about the quality of the democratic regime in the Czech Republic," Komarek writes in MfD. The affair of Deputy PM Jiri Cunek is not over though junior ruling Greens (SZ) chairman Martin Bursik assured the public that the audit of Cunek's finances did not prove any wrongdoing, Martin Zverina writes in Lidove noviny (LN) today. Bursik apparently rejoiced at the audit result though he read only a summary. However, it was sufficient for him to conclude that Cunek's case is resolved - popular Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for Greens) would stay in the cabinet and no one will have to ask PM Mirek Topolanek to dismiss Cunek from the government, Zverina says. Fortunately, Bursik promised that the whole audit would be released on the web so voters would have a chance to make their own impression. Bursik's words, too, indicate that the audit did not give any clear verdict, Zverina notes. "Realistically speaking, the money for the audit was wasted. It will not exonerate Cunek in the doubters' eyes and it will not help the Greens either. On the contrary, in this case Bursik, maybe unwillingly, showed his manipulating skills," Zverina writes in LN. A miracle has helped Deputy PM Jiri Cunek to get out of the trouble again, this time in the form of a report by the Kroll detective agency, and the credit of Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is saved, Tomas Nemecek writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN) today. The Kroll audit allegedly explained the origin of high sums in Cunek's account, but it still provokes doubts, Nemecek says. If there is a simple explanation about the money why only the private detectives could hear it and not the police? Nemecek asks. He also indicates a possibility that Kroll may have met "political demand." In any case, Schwarzenberg can fulfil his dream - the Czech Republic will along with him chair the EU in the first half of 2009, Nemecek concludes in HN. ($1=14.850 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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