The ABL security agency, one of whose owners was future Czech transport minister Vit Barta (Public Affairs, VV), will not take part in public tenders organised by ministries headed by members of the VV party, ABL director general Matej Barta, the minister’s brother, said yesterday.
However, ABL may try to win public tenders that are not related to ministries controlled by VV, Matej Barta said.
The VV is to be in charge of the transport (Vit Barta), interior (Radek John), local development (Kamil Jankovsky) and education (Josef Dobes) ministries.
President Vaclav Klaus will name the coalition government of Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS), which also includes the conservative TOP 09, on July 13.
Matej Barta said yesterday he and his wife havve bought his brother’s stake in ABL. Vit Barta owned half of the company until recently.
Matej Barta pointed out that ABL has never sponsored Public Affairs and will not do so in future.
He claimed that sponsoring of the VV party was a private activity of his brother.
He said he was not aware of any ties between politicians and ABL employees but he added he cannot know this for certain because the agency employs over 2000 persons.
Though Matej Barta did not release the financial conditions of the purchase of his brother’s stake in ABL, he said the company would provide the information after the transfer is completed.
Vit Barta founded and headed ABL, which is one of the biggest security agencies in the Czech Republic, working for Foxconn, TPCA, Tesco and Baumax, among others.
Prime Minister-designate Necas last week expressed his reservations about the VV’s demand that VV leader John be interior minister due to links between ABL and Barta.
Public Affairs argued that it need to have control over the Interior Ministry because fight against corruption has been its priority.
Necas later said VV leaders promised that ABL would not get involved in any transactions related to the Interior Ministry.
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