Prague - The self-declared crusader against welfare abuse, Christian Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek found himself under increasing pressure to quit as suspicions grew he committed the very sin he has been preaching against.
"I absolutely deny the allegation that I abused welfare. I have always worked and never lived on the dole like many others in this country do," he said in a fighting spirit at today's news conference.
An investigative report aired on Monday by Czech TV claimed Čunek had been depositing millions of Czech Crowns in his bank accounts while simultaneously receiving welfare in the 1990s.
READ MORE: Czech Deputy PM questioned again for murky finances
Čunek has filed a criminal complaint in relation to the television report as he suspects the information was leaked illegally from a file compiled earlier by police who had been investigating an alleged act of bribery Čunek was accused of. The investigation was later stopped and charges dropped.
Christian Democrats uneasy
Čunek admits he did draw some social benefits, but insists he did nothing wrong as the money he was depositing at the time came from earlier savings and thus did not disqualify him from receiving financial help from the state.
It did little to convince his party colleague and predecessor at the helm of the Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL), Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek.
"A normal man with two healthy hands does not take welfare when he has millions on his accounts," Kalousek told reporters when the news of Čunek's fresh statements reached him.
And he was not the only senior KDU-ČSL member to question the chairman.
The party faction in the upper house of the parliament late in the afternoon called on Mr. Čunek to step down as the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and the chairman of the party.
Crucially, the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek gave his number two in the coalition government benefit of the doubt, but made it clear he expects Mr. Čunek to quit unless he can satisfactorily dispel the existing suspicions.
Give me time until next Tuesday
In an interview for Aktuálně.cz Čunek said he is ready to come clean and account for all of his property and finances even from before he entered politics, something he had been until now refusing to do.
"Not all of the 3,5 million was mine, some of the money was only in my custody. I have yet to prepare my full declaration. I gave my word to the KDU-ČSL leadership today, that I will give it to them by next Tuesday. Until then I am not ready to divulge anything to the media," Čunek told Aktuálně.cz.
In a radio interview he gave afterwards Mr. Čunek said he is ready to go if the senior leadership of his party asks him to. He also said he would rather quit of his own volition than let the Prime Minister fire him.
The centre-right coalition government of Topolánek's right-wing Civic Democrats (ODS), the Christian Democrats and the Greens has just 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house of the parliament and it has to rely on an occasional support of two "free agents" who splintered from the main opposition Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).
The three-party coalition took power at the beginning of this year, following months of negotiations after the inconslusive elections of June 2006.
