Paper exposes kickback plot by deputy defence minister

Minister of Defence Alexandr Vondra on Wednesday announced the creation of a new unit to oversee purchases following another scandal over arms purchases.

The daily Mladá fronta dnes on Wednesday described how it exposed a plot by a deputy minister at the Defence Ministry to take millions of crowns in kickbacks for a major arms order. The paper reported that it followed the minister, Jaroslav Kopřiva, for six months as he put together the deal with a lobbyist. They planned to frame an order for mortars as a joint purchase with the Slovak government, helping them bypass a public tender and winning it for the Finnish company Patria. The paper later presented its evidence to the Minister of Defence with Kopřiva being sacked on the spot.

Mr. Vondra said that the new unit would look into all completed, pending and ongoing purchases to check for any suspicious circumstances. First in line will be contracts involving third party intermediaries. He said contracts continued to be a weak point at the ministry when it could take advantage of rules allowing public tenders to be avoided.

Author: Chris Johnstone