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Christian Democrat conference fails to give party new direction ... said Kalousek, then deputy defence minister, had contacts with current Deputy PM Cunek, then safety technician in Zbrojovka, at the Defence Ministry in the 1990s. Kalousek today reiterated that neither he nor any of his subordinates at the Defence Ministry had negotiated with Cunek. This is why Kalousek is considering legal steps against the Kroll detective agency that released Dancak's statements in the audit of Cunek's family finances. "I was a deputy defence minister responsible, among others, for the L-159 [aircraft] programme in 1993-1997.
I categorically decline that I or any of my subordinates had negotiated with Jiri Cunek about the Plamen gun or any other arms orders for Zbrojovka Vsetin then," Kalousek wrote in his press release. Kalousek said Dancak was either lying or being misled or the Kroll agency was expediently and unprofessionally fabricating. "A combination of the above mentioned alternatives is also possible. I only rule out the possibility that Jiri Cunek could then influence any order of a gun for the L-159 or possibly obtain any exclusive or sensitive information about this project," Kalousek claims. Cunek, who is also local development minister and senator, was accused of bribery in spring 2007, but his prosecution was later halted. However, some of his financial deals have remained unclear. The Kroll audit was ordered by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for Greens) who said he would not sit with Cunek in the government unless his financial situation is clarified. According to the audit result, Cunek was lobbying for Zbrojovka Vsetin in the 1990s and he received a high reward for it in the form of per diem that is not subject to taxation for his trips to the ministry in Prague, which could explain the high difference between Cunek's official income and his savings he deposited in banks. Cunek confirmed it, but he refused to specify the sum he received as per diem. The Kroll report says Cunek became an active KDU-CSL member after 1993, which helped him in his career since the KDU-CSL had a high influence at the Defence Ministry. Dancak told the Krolls that Cunek had used his contacts to help the firm solve two "gross problems." He also said Cunek had helped Zbrojovka lobby for at least one significant government military order at the Defence Ministry. Though Zbrojovka failed to persuade the government to change tax regulations, the company did not return the taxes it owed to the state and was not sanctioned for it, Dancak said. According to Kroll detectives, Cunek was lobbying for Zbrojovka to gain the government order for the Plamen (Flame) gun for the Czech-made L-159 aircraft. In this connection Dancak recalled that Kalousek had then worked at the Defence Ministry as a deputy for the property purchase and budget and that Kalousek and Cunek must have known each other. Kalousek said on Tuesday he had known Cunek only superficially as one of the 100 members of the KDU-CSL national conference then. Zbrojovka Vsetin won the contract worth 1.3 billion crowns in September 1995, but the company and the ministry faced problems with the development and production of the gun. Schwarzenberg said on Monday that the investigation into Cunek's finances was not yet over because Cunek did not provide the complete police file to the auditors. He confirmed he would stay in the government only if the auditors exonerated Cunek. A Kroll detective, however, said in the Czech press that further investigation into the Cunek case would be meaningless. (USD1=14.617 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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