Jiri Pospisil, the head of the TOP 09 Prague branch and a MEP, yesterday said he will on his own initiative testify in the case of suspected corruption in Prague’s Public Transport Company (DPP) in an effort to refute media allegations about his involvement in the scandal known as the Dosimeter case.
In late June, the Seznam Zpravy server released an interview with businessman Pavel Dovhomilja, one of the suspects in the corruption case, who said that it was Pospisil, along with then Prague deputy mayor for Mayors and Independents (STAN), Petr Hlubucek, who assisted in the establishment of the suspected organised criminal group.
Reacting on Twitter today, Pospisil again rejected any connection with the Dosimeter case and said he would not withdraw from the list of candidates for the autumn local elections in Prague, as completed by TOP 09 along with allied parties.
At present, Pospisil is a member of the Prague City Assembly and of several of its commissions.
The police say that the group of 11 persons systematically filled the key posts in the DPP so that the installed managers might influence tenders with the aim to gain bribes from the “winning” companies. Pospisil is not among the prosecuted suspects.
“After discussing the affair with TOP 09 fellow members, members of the TOP 09 Prague branch board and our coalition partners, all of whom have expressed full support for me, I have decided to keep on the list of candidates for the upcoming local elections. I think a withdrawal would be viewed as my admission of guilt – something I absolutely dismiss,” Pospisil tweeted.
After the interview with Dovhomilja was published by Seznam Zpravy, the Prague assemblymen for the Pirate party called on Pospisil to resign from all his posts at the City Hall. Citing Seznam Zpravy, the Pirates pointed at Pospisil’s links to Michal Redl, an entrepreneur and the suspected mastermind of the DPP corruption practices.
Earlier in June, media wrote that those collaborating with Redl included Jiri Fremr, then an adviser to Pospisil and the election manager of TOP 09, who left TOP 09 after the Dosimeter scandal broke out. TOP 09 then called on Pospisil to terminate all contacts with Fremr.
TOP 09 chairwoman Marketa Pekarova Adamova told server Lidovky.cz in early July that if she were Pospisil, she would draw responsibility and would not run in the elections.
Pospisil yesterday confirmed his candidacy.
“I have nothing to do with the Dosimeter case. I am not a suspect, let alone accused. All my meetings and contacts with the STAN movement had political character based on our [STAN and TOP 09’s] joint candidacy in the EU elections and the [previous] local elections in Prague,” Pospisil tweeted.
He said the way some media present his role in the affair is a part of the political struggle. “That is why I have personally addressed the law enforcement bodies and, on my own initiative, I will testify – respectively I will go to refute the assertions presented by some media. I firmly believe that the case will be subjected to independent investigation and that all people involved in it will be uncovered,” Pospisil wrote.
Source: CTK
