PRAGUE – Czech police have charged a leading opposition politician with bribery, a high-profile case at a time of rising public anger at the level of political corruption and an economic recession deepened by budget cuts and tax increases.
David Rath, a former health minister and outspoken Social Democrat deputy, was arrested late on Monday, and a district judge ordered his detention yesterday to prevent him from fleeing or influencing witnesses.
Czech lower house deputies have parliamentary immunity and can be arrested and detained only if caught at the time a crime is committed or immediately afterwards.
State attorney Lenka Bradacova, who is overseeing the case, said, “He is charged with accepting a bribe. There was seven million crowns (€274,000) with when he left the place where the crime occurred.”
Rath, 46, said in a public statement that the case gave the impression of being the “well-prepared and well-performed social execution of a politician”. – Reuters