PM comes out fighting

In a public statement to the nation, Prime Minister Petr Necas said he saw no reason to resign from office in the wake of a police raid on the Office of the Government late Wednesday. The prime minister said his conscience was clear and he had seen no evidence implicating those of his associates who were detained in the night raid. He called on the police and State Attorney’s Office in Olomouc to clarify the reasons behind the extensive police operation in which several people were detained, among others the prime minister’s closest aide Jana Nagyova and the head of the Office of the Government Lubomir Poul. The prime minister said that from the information he had received in the course of the day it appeared that the case revolved around three rebel Civic Democrat MPs who were suspected of having accepted bribes in return for giving up their seats in Parliament.

The prime minister called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday evening to debate the crisis.