Znojmo – Representatives of the opposition parties in Znojmo called on coalition politicians for the ANO and SPD movements to publicly explain the circumstances of the bribe offer, which ANO announced at a press conference on Monday. In today’s press release, the opposition denied that the Znojmo businessman offered a bribe on its behalf. If they don’t get the desired response within a day, they plan to file criminal charges for defamation, they said. After the elections, the coalition in Znojmo was formed by the victorious ANO with the SPD and Znojmáky, while the ODS, KDU-ČSL, Pro Znojmo and Naše Znojmo ended up in opposition.
Regional chairwoman Alena Schillerová (ANO) and her party colleagues spoke about the bribe offer on Monday in response to Saturday’s announcement by the opposition parties, who agreed on a new coalition and now have the upper hand in the council. Schillerová together with Znojmo mayor Ivana Solarová (ANO) and councilor David Štolpa (ANO) said that people connected with the Znojmo opposition offered SPD representative Květoslav Svoboda half a million crowns to leave the coalition. Svoboda subsequently confirmed this to ČTK, saying that he refused the offer and will turn to the police. According to ANO, coalition member Bert Bartas (Znojmáci) also received other corruption offers. Bartas declined to comment. The ANO movement did not say who made the offer.
“At the press conference, serious and non-specific accusations were made. We request and publicly challenge Alena Schillerová, Ivana Solarová, David Štolpa and Květoslav Svoboda to clearly and publicly answer who specifically offered them the alleged bribe and when and where it should have been offered. If they do not able to substantiate their claims, then we demand an apology. If they insist on the claims, then let them immediately file a criminal complaint,” the opposition representatives wrote in an open call. Among them are, for example, regional councilor for health care Karel Podzimek (ODS) or former Znojmo mayors Jakub Malačka (Naše Znojmo) and Jan Grois (nez.).
The politicians who signed the call added that they all declared after the municipal elections in 2022 that they did not want a coalition with the SPD. “The alleged bribe to representative Svobod for the SPD is therefore completely absurd. As for the alleged bribe to Mr. Bartas, we expect that he himself will soon comment on this baseless announcement, because it is absurd as well. We have a bad feeling that the name of Mr. Bartas has been misused, ” they added.
CR crime administration ANO municipality Znojmo Jihomoravský
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
