Czech prime minister resigns in wake of scandal

PRAGUE Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas has announced his resignation as head of government and leader of the ruling Civic Democratic Party. He decided to take this step because of a scandal which unfolded last week as his chief of staff and alleged mistress Jana Nagyova was arrested for abuse of the Military Intelligence Service and corruption of members of parliament. Czech prime minister resigns in wake of scandal Necas expects that the present ruling coalition of three right-wing and center parties will form a new government with a new prime minister, but this will largely depend on President Milos Zeman. By far the biggest corruption scandal that for the first time reached the nearest environment of the prime minister broke out on Thursday when police, in a night raid on the headquarters of the government, offices of influential lobbyists and a few state-owned enterprises, arrested eight politicians and senior civil servants. The prime minister's right hand and, to the knowledge of the police, his mistress, in addition to being involved in a corruption case where three of the ruling party's MPs got well-paid positions in state enterprises in exchange for withdrawing from representative duty, also misused the military intelligence by illegally tasking the service with spying on Necas's wife, Radka Necasa. According to police, Nagyova did this last fall in order to force Necas to divorce after 27 years of marriage. Nagyova has stated in her defense that the prime minister's wife "became close with some people from the Jehovah's Witnesses sect and started to raise money for them." She said that it was for this reason that she asked the intelligence service to "check this," as she was "afraid there would be a scandal." The scandal that did break out saw two generals accused - former and current head of the Military Intelligence, who complied with Nagyova's wishes. Security experts say that the Czech military intelligence "will take a long time to regain the trust of allies in NATO" after it became apparent that the service illegally and obediently carried out orders of the prime minister's mistress - orders of which Necas was "unaware." The left-wing opposition parties asked for early elections in the country, even before the prime minister announced his resignation. (Beta/AP, file) Beta

Czech prime minister resigns in wake of scandal

Nečas expects that the present ruling coalition of three right-wing and center parties will form a new government with a new prime minister, but this will largely depend on President Miloš Zeman.

By far the biggest corruption scandal that for the first time reached the nearest environment of the prime minister broke out on Thursday when police, in a night raid on the headquarters of the government, offices of influential lobbyists and a few state-owned enterprises, arrested eight politicians and senior civil servants.

The prime minister's right hand and, to the knowledge of the police, his mistress, in addition to being involved in a corruption case where three of the ruling party's MPs got well-paid positions in state enterprises in exchange for withdrawing from representative duty, also misused the military intelligence by illegally tasking the service with spying on Nečas's wife, Radka Nečasa.

According to police, Nagyova did this last fall in order to force Nečas to divorce after 27 years of marriage.

Nagyova has stated in her defense that the prime minister's wife "became close with some people from the Jehovah's Witnesses sect and started to raise money for them." She said that it was for this reason that she asked the intelligence service to "check this," as she was "afraid there would be a scandal."

The scandal that did break out saw two generals accused - former and current head of the Military Intelligence, who complied with Nagyova's wishes.

Security experts say that the Czech military intelligence "will take a long time to regain the trust of allies in NATO" after it became apparent that the service illegally and obediently carried out orders of the prime minister's mistress - orders of which Nečas was "unaware."

The left-wing opposition parties asked for early elections in the country, even before the prime minister announced his resignation.