Police investigating radars deal at instigation of minister

Police are investigating a deal under which the Ministry of Defence plans to buy mobile radars for billions of crowns, the minister of defence, Karla Šlechtová, said on Tuesday. She said she had contacted the military police in connection with “very serious findings” relating to the matter.

Ms. Šlechtová indicated that issues surrounding major defence deals could be linked to what she called media attacks on her in recent weeks, the Czech News Agency said.

Prague plans to buy new radars from Israel at a cost of CZK 3.5 billion under an agreement reached but not signed by Martin Stropnický, Ms. Šlechtová’s predecessor. She had a number of major contracts examined after taking over and says she there are question marks surrounding the radars deal.

Author: Ian Willoughby