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Czech Police Charge Officials in Corruption Investigation Czech Police Charge Officials in Corruption Investigation
(about 7 hours later)
PARIS — The Czech police have charged seven people after a nationwide raid of government and company offices, intensifying an apparent anticorruption crackdown that has led to the arrest of several officials, including a senior aide of the prime minister, the CTK news agency reported Friday. PARIS — The future of the Czech government was called into doubt Friday after Czech law enforcement officials said they had charged a senior aide of Prime Minister Petr Necas with abuse of office and bribery.
The raids on Wednesday and Thursday by an organized crime unit threatened the fragile coalition government of Prime Minister Petr Necas, which has been shaken by a series of disagreements. Among those arrested was Jana Nagyova, the prime minister’s chief of staff. The charges, coming a day after an extensive nationwide raids on government and company offices by a unit investigating organized crime, appeared to be part of the most sweeping anti-corruption operation since the Czechs overthrew communism in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
The chief state prosecutor from Olomouc, Ivo Istvan, told reporters on Friday that Ms. Nagyova had been charged with misuse of office and bribery. Police officials said her motive appeared to be personal. Two former members of Parliament, Petr Tluchor and Ivan Fuksa, were charged with accepting a bribe and bribery, Mr. Istvan said. Mr. Necas remained defiant on Friday, telling parliament that he would not resign and had done nothing wrong. But the online version of Mlada fronta DNES, a leading newspaper, reported that the request for a no confidence vote had already been submitted by the opposition Social Democrats and could take place as early as next week.
According to an online report by Hospodarske Noviny, a leading newspaper, Ms. Nagyova is suspected of ordering military intelligence officials to follow the prime minister’s wife, Jana Radka Necasova. Mr. Necas announced earlier this week that they were divorcing. “The Social Democrats expect the speedy resignation of Prime Minster Petr Necas and the entire government,” a party official, Jeronym Tejc, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “If that does not happen, the Social Democrats will initiate a vote of no confidence.” .
Ondrej Palenik, the former chief of military intelligence, was charged with abuse of power, his lawyer Tomas Sokol, told CTK. Milan Kovanda, the current director of military intelligence, faces the same charge, the news agency said. The chief state prosecutor from Olomouc in eastern Czech Republic, Ivo Istvan, told reporters on Friday that Jana Nagyova, the prime minister’s chief of staff, was suspected of leading an illegal surveillance operation and ordering a military intelligence agency to spy on three people. The Czech news agency CTK reported that included spying on Mr. Necas’s wife, Radka Necasova. Mr. Necas announced earlier this week that they are divorcing.
Addressing Parliament on Friday, Mr. Necas said the theatrical style with which a top military officer had been “eliminated” had done irreparable damage to the Czech Republic and its image. Conspicuously absent was any mention of Ms. Nagyova, his close aide. He remained defiant in his refusal to resign. During a press conference in Prague, the Czech capital, police officials said Friday they had been shocked to learn that Ms. Nagyova, a close confidante of the prime minister, had been using the intelligence services for personal motives.
On Thursday, Mr. Necas insisted he had no reason to step down. “I am personally convinced that I did not do anything dishonest and that my colleagues have not done anything dishonest either,” he said. “I expect that law enforcement agencies will quickly explain their reasons for launching such a massive operation.” Mr. Istvan, the state prosecutor, said six others had also been charged. He said the current and previous directors of military intelligence had been charged with abuse of power, while two former members of parliament in Mr. Necas’s party had been charged with bribery.
But the opposition Social Democrats said Friday that they would call a vote of no confidence unless Mr. Necas resigned. “The Social Democrats expect the speedy resignation of Prime Minster Petr Necas and the entire government. If that does not happen, the Social Democrats will initiate a vote of no confidence,” a party official, Jeronym Tejc, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Analysts said the ensnarement of a senior aide of the prime minister in a corruption probe threatened to unhinge the fragile coalition government of Mr. Necas, which has already been shaken by a series of previous scandals and disagreements over economic policy.
President Milos Zeman’s office said he would meet on Friday with Mr. Necas, Justice Minister Pavel Blazek, the national police chief, the chief of public prosecutors and the leader of the opposition Social Democrats to discuss how to proceed. But leading members of one of his coalition partners, TOP09, said Friday that Mr. Necas could help restore confidence if he fired all of the government employees who had been charged.
Even before the raids, Mr. Zeman, a political rival of Mr. Necas’s, had said he was determined to break the stranglehold of corruption over the country. After his victory was announced in January, he said he wanted to be the president of all the Czechs but “not of godfather structures here,” an allusion to the country’s corruption problems. Mr. Necas, for his part, appeared determined to cling to power. He said the theatrical style with which a top military officer had been “eliminated” had done irreparable damage to the Czech Republic and its image. Conspicuously absent was any mention of Ms. Nagyova, his close aide.
Interior Minister Jan Kubice told Parliament on Thursday that Mr. Necas had been visited by the chief of the organized crime unit and two state attorneys. He said the visit was “in connection with a step in the criminal proceedings,” but did not elaborate. On Thursday, Mr. Necas had strongly defended himself and his allies in the brewing scandal.
“I am personally convinced that I did not do anything dishonest and that my colleagues have not done anything dishonest either,” he said. “I expect that law enforcement agencies will quickly explain their reasons for launching such a massive operation.”
Analysts said the nation’s president, Milos Zeman, could try and use his limited constitutional powers to try and unseat him. Even before the raids, Mr. Zeman, a political rival of Mr. Necas, had expressed his determination to break the stranglehold of corruption over the country. After his victory was announced in January, Mr. Zeman said he wanted to be the president of all the Czechs, but “not of godfather structures here,” an allusion to the country’s corruption problems.
Paradoxically, Mr. Necas has been an advocate in the fight against corruption, and appointed prosecutors with a mandate to aggressively pursue cases.
Miroslav Mares, a security expert at Masaryk University, in Brno, in the Czech Republic, said the affair threatened to undermine the confidence of the Czech Republic’s important allies, including the United States, especially if the military intelligence department was manipulated for personal ends.
“The affair will certainly raise question marks about the trustworthiness of our military intelligence, since the intelligence department may have been used for personal reasons that seem to belong in gossip columns,” Mr. Mares said.
In the aftermath of the fall of communism, the Czech Republic and its first president, Vaclav Havel, were viewed as potent symbols of the triumph of democracy and freedom in the face of authoritarianism.
But the country, created in 1993 when Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, has since been mired by a culture of graft and lawlessness, the legacy of decades of communist rule. Crony capitalism also took root during the wild west privatizations of the 1990s, when the lines between the state and corporate interests became blurred.

Hana de Goeij contributed reporting from Prague.

Hana de Goeij contributed reporting from Prague.