DOKUMENT: Audit Jiřího Čunka - Introduction

The mandate for this investigation comes from the signed agreement between Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (“the agreement”). The agreement called for an independent audit of Mr. Cunek’s finances and their origins.

The agreement aspired for an independent body to examine alternative explanations of the key events in this controversy. This is a preliminary report that addresses those issues and that has come to some conclusions but which acknowledges there is further verification work that could be done. Given that this inquiry was privately funded by Mr. Schwarzenberg and needed to be completed by the beginning of July and we agreed our mandate on 12 May, we have limited our activities to the most directly relevant issues with a much broader possible scope. A number of issues remain outstanding and could provide a basis for further work.

Also, there are other criminal cases that have arisen as a result of these allegations which have not formed part of this investigation’s remit. Those criminal cases may have significant consequences for Mr. Cunek that are not anticipated or reviewed here.

The circumstances of the agreement are that Mr. Cunek was accused of receiving a bribe of approximately CZK 500,000 shortly after he was elected to the Czech Senate in the Autumn of 2006. The bribe had allegedly taken place in February 2002 when Mr Cunek was Mayor of Vsetin, and was allegedly paid on behalf of H&B Real, a developer that had just concluded a joint venture with the city. The police conducted a six month investigation but Mr. Cunek was never prosecuted. In mid 2007 the Attorney General transferred the case to a new prosecutor who ruled there was no case to answer.

The case has been highly politicised from the beginning. The transfer to a new prosecutor and his subsequent decision to drop the matter drew sharp criticism from some Czech politicians and the media, and confidence in the decisions was eroded. The timing of the allegations against Mr. Cunek and the character of the person who made them, his former secretary Marcela Urbanova, have also been the subject of widely differing interpretations. Ms. Urbanova had previously accused Mr. Cunek of sexual harassment, a claim which has not, to date, led to prosecution in the Czech Republic.

There are two key events, established as fact by the police investigation, that lie at the heart of this controversy;

- On 11 February 2002 at 1425, Ms. Hurtova withdrew CZK 499,000 from H&B Real’s company bank account, 400m from Vsetin City Hall

- On 14 February 2002, Mr. Cunek deposited CZK 497,000 in 1,000 notes in his own bank account.

H&B Real is a property firm that formed a joint venture with the city of Vsetin to acquire and then dispose of a large number of apartments. Ms. Urbanova alleged that Mr. Cunek received money from H&B Real because they had been given an advantage by Mr. Cunek in his capacity as Mayor. The coincidence in timing between these two financial transactions has supported theories of corruption.

This report provides some answers to three questions:

- Could H&B Real have gained an advantage such as to provide a motive to reward Mr. Cunek?

- Can Mr. Cunek provide convincing explanations as to the legitimate sources of his family’s wealth?

- How coherent is the evidence that a bribe took place on 11 February 2002?

The answers that Kroll has been able to obtain to those questions are what follows in this report.