DOKUMENT: Audit Jiřího Čunka - Coherence of the allegation...

Marcela Urbanova’s claims

Marcela Urbanova claims to have witnessed Martina Hurtova coming to the office of the mayor and giving him a bribe of approximately CZK 500,000 in cash.

According to Ms. Urbanova, Mr. Cunek called Petr Hurta in the morning, and requested that Mr. Hurta deliver CZK 500,000 to him before midday. Urbanova concluded that Mr. Hurta did not have the money at that time because Mr. Cunek then said that Ms. Hurtova could withdraw the funds from the bank.

According to Ms. Urbanova, Ms. Hurtova arrived at the mayor’s office before Urbanova went out for lunch. She claims Ms. Hurtova handed Mr. Cunek a white A4 envelope which he tore open and pulled out a sheaf of bank notes, saying words to the effect of ‘this is how you get rich’.

Ms. Urbanova reported that Mr. Cunek had pulled from the envelope CZK 1,000 denominated bills and that he had later made a cash deposit of 497 CZK 1,000 bills.

In her police statement, Ms. Urbanova described how she was able to see the hand over taking place, and the lay out of her office in relation to Mr. Cunek’s.

Ms. Urbanova explained that Mr. Cunek did not disguise his personal or business affairs from his secretary. Mr. Cunek was very open towards her, and it was this kind of attitude that led to the allegations she made of sexual harassment.

Ms. Urbanova is currently being investigated in relation to giving false testimony over the bribery allegations.

Kroll reviewed the layout of the executive floor of Vsetin city hall, where the alleged bribe took place. The office is located on the fourth floor of a busy office building in the centre of Vsetin. The ground floor of the building is occupied by Vsetin police. Anybody can enter or exit the executive floor without signing up with a receptionist. However visitors must walk through a waiting area with chairs and a couch to enter the Mayor’s office.

According to statements made to the police, Petr Hurta and Martina Hurtova have known Mr. Cunek since the early 1990s.

Mr. Cunek was asked by the police to clarify his relationship with Mr. Hurta. He said that he did not know exactly when they had met, but it was in the 1990s. Vsetin is a small town. They met before Mr. Cunek was in politics. In the same statement, Mr. Cunek states that he has known Hurta since 1992-1994.

According to a statement given by Ms. Hurtova, she first met Mr. Cunek when he was working for Zbrojovka Vsetin. He was recommended to the Hurtas who had just started business and were looking for advice on security/safety issues.

Kroll has identified a number of other links between the Hurta family and the Cunek family. Pavel Hurta, Petr Hurta’s cousin, acted as the signatory on behalf of JASY.

Tomas Hurta, possibly related to Hurta, conducted the valuation of the estate of Mr. Cunek’s father. The valuation was reduced, reducing the death taxes payable by Mr. Cunek’s family. Tomas Hurta appears to be employed by H&B Real.

The Hurtas won several contracts from the Vsetin town. For example, in 1998, Hurta’s H&B Optimum won the contract to insure all of the town’s property. However, Kroll identified at least one other city contract with H&B which predated Mr. Cunek’s election as mayor.

Ms. Urbanova is the only witness who saw the alleged bribe take place. There is some circumstantial evidence that supports her case.

On 11 February 2002, Ms. Hurtova withdrew CZK 499,000 from the company bank account with KB. KB’s branch in Vsetin is approximately 300m from the town hall.

A friend of Urbanova, Emile Paskova has testified that Ms. Urbanova told her about the half million bribe. The two, who knew each other and became friends while working at the town hall, met several weeks after the alleged bribery took place. Ms. Urbanova told Ms. Paskova that Ms. Hurtova had given Mr. Cunek about CZK 500,000, and about Mr. Cunek’s reaction to it – making money. Ms. Urbanova told her that it may have had something to do with H&B Real and Vsetinske Byty. Ms. Paskova herself had acquired a flat from the joint venture.

Jaroslav Rucka, Ms. Urbanova’s long term boyfriend, also made a statement to the police in which he reported that Ms. Urbanova had returned from work one day in February 2002 to tell him that Mr. Cunek had shown her an envelope and said that it contained half a million crowns and that that was how to make money. Ms. Urbanova told him that Ms. Hurtova had delivered the money. She also described the phone call to him.

It is not at all clear why Ms. Urbanova waited four years to make the allegation of bribery against Mr. Cunek. Her reliability as a witness is also undermined by the fact she had previously made an allegation of sexual harrassment against Mr. Cunek that, so far, has not been upheld by the Czech courts.

On the allegation itself, Ms. Urbanova’s statements to the police record that the alleged bribe took place in the morning. She estimated there was an interval of approximately one hour between the call and the hand over.

Ms. Urbanova’s timing appears to be inconsistent with other events. The withdrawal made by Ms. Hurtova was recorded in the records of Komercni Bank as taking place at 1425. H&B Real’s cash ledger records that the money was deposited with them on the same date. A time is not specified. The computer printout of this cash deposit, in sequence with a years worth of other deposits, is in the police file and has been reviewed by Kroll.

Ms. Hurtova denies visiting the mayor’s office on 11 February 2002. She denies giving him a bribe. The police investigation appears to have found no witnesses who could confirm whether Ms. Hurtova visited Mr. Cunek that day. However, it is possible that Ms. Urbanova incorrectly identified the timing or date of the hand over.

Mr. Cunek’s movements on 11 February

Ms. Urbanova told police that Mr. Cunek was in his office until 1500, which provided enough time for Ms. Hurtova to make the delivery.

A phone call was made from Mr. Cunek’s office at 1406 to his wife’s surgery. Ms. Urbanova states that this call was made by Mr. Cunek. Mr. Cunek said that he did not make the call. Ms. Cunek told the police that Ms. Urbanova often phoned, either to relay information from Mr. Cunek to his wife or because her daughter, Lucie, was a patient at the surgery. Ms. Cunek does not recall a call from her husband that day.

On 11 February 2002, a meeting of the Czech government was held in Zlin. The meeting was attended by a large number of local politicians. Mr. Cunek told the police he went to Zlin on 11 February 2002 and attended some of the meetings.

Mr. Cunek told police that left for Zlin around 1100. He attended a site visit from approximately 1130. He also attended a lunch with the government which took place around 1300. He later attended individual meetings in Zlin before returning for a public meeting with a Government minister at the Dum Kultury in Vsetin from 1800. He remained with the ministers until late into the night.

In 2001 Miroslav Rozhon was general manager of Ingstav Ostrava, a building firm.

On 11 February 2002 Mr. Rozhon was due to meet with Mr. Cunek. The meeting was arranged in advance. The meeting took place in Mr. Cunek’s office. Mr. Rozhon arrived at 1030, and waited in reception. Another meeting was in progress.

Mr. Rozhon’s meeting lasted 10-15 minutes. Nobody entered the office or disturbed the meeting. Afterwards, Rozhon says that he accompanied Mr. Cunek to his car, in the garage.

Mr. Rozhon remembers the meeting because it was unusually rushed. Usually they had time to discuss more general matters, but not on this occasion.

Ms. Urbanova does not discount the possibility that Mr. Cunek left the office around 1100 with Mr. Rozhon, but claims he later returned for another visitor.

Witness – Milan Pucek

Milan Pucek was secretary of Vsetin town council from 2001. Mr. Pucek remembers 11 February 2002 because there was a government meeting in Zlin, which was unusual.

According to Mr. Pucek, there was a meeting of heads of department at Vsetin town hall from 0730. Mr. Cunek arrived before 0800. Following the meeting, at around 0830-0900, Messrs Pucek, Cunek and Kudlik continued talking together in Mr. Cunek’s office.

The meeting finished at approximately 1030. Mr. Pucek noticed that someone was waiting for Mr. Cunek as he crossed the room to leave. Mr. Cunek mentioned to Mr. Pucek that he had another meeting before leaving for Zlin.

Mr. Pucek’s account has been challenged by Ms. Urbanova who claims that he was not present in the Mayor’s office that morning.

Mr. Pucek is currently Deputy Regional Development Minister under Mr. Cunek.

Jaromir Kudlik was Deputy Mayor of Vsetin from 1998.

Mr. Kudlik described to the police that it was usual to have heads of department meetings on Monday mornings. The attendees would move from department to department.

Mr. Kudlik said that on 11 February 2002, Mr. Cunek attended the morning meeting, arriving before 0800. Mr. Kudlik and Mr. Cunek continued discussions in Mr. Cunek’s office until Mr. Cunek had to leave for Zlin. He was uncertain of the timing, but recalled that an employee from Ingstav Ostrava had a meeting with Mr. Cunek before he left.

Mr. Kudlik knew Martina Hurtova, and did not see her that day at the town hall.

Mr. Kudlik has since been charged with giving false testimony in relation to aspects of his account and is being prosecuted. The police discovered that Mr. Kudlik had attended a conference on 11 February 2002, where he was a key note speaker and this is in the file reviewed by Kroll. A witness, Jan Bierza, confirmed that he spoke in the afternoon at about 1500. The delegates at the conference arrived between 0900 and 1000. The only delegate not to arrive was the Czech Minister for Schools. The other delegates all arrived during this time. The conference took place in Havirov, a small town near Ostrava north east of Vsetin.

Mr. Kudlik was a key witness to Mr. Cunek’s movements on the morning of 11 February 2002.

Witness – Vit Zgarba

Vit Zgarba testified that he met with Mr. Cunek in Zlin. Mr. Zgarba says in his witness statement that he does not recall exactly what he was doing that day. However, he notes that he did not send any emails between 1155 and 1455.

Mr. Zgarba was scheduled to meet Mr. Cunek in his office but travelled alone to Zlin instead to meet with the mayor. Mr. Zgarba also notes that he met with a sponsor for an upcoming sporting event in Zlin that day. (34)

Mr. Cunek confirmed that he met with Mr. Zgarba in Zlin after re-arranging the meeting for 1300.

A second witness, Vojtech Jurcik, claims in a statement to police that he met Mr. Cunek in Zlin “after 1000,” saw him over lunch, and then met him again “around 1500.” Jurcik said that the meeting lasted until 1630 or 1700. (35)

34 Email correspondence from V Zgarba to David Prusa, 27 February 2007, contained in the police file

35 Witness statement of M Sinderbad, contained in police file