UPDATE (the original story is below) The opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) demands a no-confidence vote against the Czech center-right government, and wants the motion to be held before Christmas.
The CSSD's decision is the latest development in the recent corruption scandal in the State Environment Fund that forced Czech Environment Minister Petr Drobil to resign yesterday.
"We are convinced that the whole thing cannot be resolved by Minister Drobil's resignation, since PM Petr Nečas was informed about the issue at least since October 2010 and did not intervene in any way," said acting chairman of CSSD Bohuslav Sobotka.
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Both ex-minister Drobil and PM Nečas are from the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the largest member of the government. PM Nečas is the party's leader, Drobil is a deputy chairman.
The three-party coalition controls 118 out of 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (lower chamber of the Czech Parliament), so the no-confidence vote does not seem to be a very serious threat to the cabinet. Nonetheless, the Public Affairs, the smallest member of the coalition, has already voiced their concern over the corruption affair, and wants a special coalition meeting to be held as soon as possible.
(below is the original article)
Prague - Czech Environment Minister Pavel Drobil resigned because of a corruption scandal that had erupted a few days ago.
Drobil remains a deputy chairman of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the largest member of the Czech Republic's center-right government.
The affair that forced Drobil to quit revolves around an alleged manipulation of public tenders of the State Environmental Fund, a state organizations that handles billions from EU funds.
A recently removed director of the fund, Libor Michálek, alleged that Minister Drobil was under pressure to influence public tenders and to create an illicit fund to support Drobil's political carreer. According to Michálek, this pressure was exercised by Michálek's deputy Dušan Fibingr and above all Minister Drobil's financial advisor Martin Knetig.
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CzechLeaks
Michálek made recordings of some of the conversations he had with the above mentioned people, and eventually handed the recordings to the Czech Mf Dnes daily that published them. The recordings show that Knetig said to Michálek that he needed money to support the minister's political career.
According to the newspaper, Michálek was unwilling to cooperate with Knetig and Fibinger, and refused to manipulate public procurement tenders, including the selection of a law firm for a CZK 80 mil (EUR 3.2 mil) tender. Also, Michálek refused to allow a CZK 500 mil (EUR 20 mil) sum to be deposited into a preselected bank.
Eventually, the minister indicated to uncooperative Michálek that he would be removed from his post. Also, the minister said that Michálek's deputy, Dušan Fibinger, has "an absolute political protection". "He has a political protection of other influential people from the ODS. He was simply nominated by different power structure within the ODS, with which I have a good relation and I want this relation to continue, because these are the relations that made me a vice-chairman (of the party)," the daily cited Drobil as saying on the recordings.
When Michálek approached Minister Drobil and told him about the recordings (while recording the conversation), Drobil asked him to destroy them, trying to persuade him by saying "you are a Catholic, a Christian, the same as me". Eventually, Drobil offered Michálek a post of deputy minister. "I give you a good advice: bring it to me, destroy it, and swear to me that there is nothing else," Drobil was cited by the daily.
In the public service Czech Television, Michálek said that the reconstruction of Prague's sewage plant was deliberately overpriced by CZK 3 bil (EUR 120 mil), with CZK 500 mil (EUR 20 mil) intended for Drobil's own Civic Democratic Party (ODS). According to Michálek, a preselected firm was supposed to win the tender.
"A managerial mistake"
"Pavel Drobil has my support, he is a good and honorable person. He made a managerial mistake though, he chose wrong collaborators," Czech PM Petr Nečas said.
The Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), the Czech Republic's largest opposition party, is considering initiating a no-confidence vote. CSSD's acting chairman Bohuslav Sobotka said that in spite of Drobil's resignation, the issue of alleged "black funds" to finance the ODS still needs to be explained.
