The most notorious corruption case associated with the politicians of the government of Petro Fiala is the Dozimetr case. It was a police crackdown that resulted from several years of surveillance of lobbyists and politicians, especially those with activities in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region.
The police action that took place in 2022 targeted dozens of people, with the main actors being about ten at the time. Already the destinations of the police action – the Prague City Hall and the transport company or VZP – indicated what the case would involve. Among the biggest fish targeted by the police were Prague Deputy Mayor Petr Hlubuček (STAN) and Michal Redl, a Zlín businessman, lobbyist and, according to many, mafioso. Initially, 13 people were charged. Later, the circle expanded. All of them were supposed to be involved in an organised scheme to manipulate public contracts of the transport company, the Prague City Hall, the General Health Insurance Company and other public institutions.
The alleged suicide of one of the accused the day before the detectives were supposed to come for him was evidence that this was no packet. It was also indicated by the suspicion that they knew the objectives of the operation in advance. It was also confirmed by the investigation, which showed that, since at least 2020, the suspects had been using encrypted communications and regularly had the premises in which they were located checked by a specialist firm specialising in detecting wiretaps.
The entire system of verifying contracts was supposed to be managed by Michal Redl, who has been investigated in the past in cases related to the crimes of notorious boss Radovan Krejcir. At the same time, after the media coverage of the case, the voices of other prominent politicians and executives spoke of Redl or people from the accused group offering them bribes. On the other hand, the question arises why, with a few exceptions, these attempts at corruption were not reported to the police.
As we have already stated, the Dozimetr case gives the impression that it was about exposing a small group of people who manipulated contracts within a narrow circle and time frame of public institutions and companies. In reality, however, there is a suspicion that this is a scheme that operates continuously, in a regionally unspecified way, and involves a much wider group of people. Something similar was revealed in Slovakia when several cases showed that people from criminal authorities, the tax administration, the state and local authorities had something of an unwritten price list for the award of public contracts. They did not necessarily talk about it, but the contractors in the competition always knew that the members of the decision-making body had to be paid 10-20 percent of the value of the contract. Not necessarily in cash, but perhaps through a bargain sale of real estate, the purchase of a work of art, or a business transaction that was disadvantageous to the client.
At the time of writing, the police in the Czech Republic have made progress in the Dozimeter on the indictment of about five more people (the number changes based on legal action in real time). Among the other big fish is Marek Šnajdr from ODS, who is suspected of bribery in favour of the award of a public contract with VZP. Tragicomically, it was supposed to be 200,000 crowns for a quarter of a billion contract. However, it is only likely that there is relevant evidence of this partial bribery.
In 2023, the National Centre against Organized Crime expanded the case to include three more legal entities in connection with contracts for the Prague transport company. The case involves a Czech-Slovak connection between lobbyists and the mafia. The winning company in the suspicious contract belongs to businessman Jindřich Špringle, who at the time was prosecuted in the main part of the case for allegedly helping to bribe a former member of the transport company’s supervisory board. The chairman of the board of directors of Uniprog Solutions was Slovak businessman Maroš Jančovič. He has been accused by police of money laundering in the case. Both men are linked to other people in Redl’s group and were supposed to pay him a commission for its profits.
The case also burned the government of Petr Fiala, as information repeatedly surfaced about contacts between people from government circles and persons of interest or those accused in the Dozimetr case. The STAN movement, which is trying to present itself as a political force unaffected by corruption, is the most affected by the case. Some of its leading members had personal and close relations with Michal Redl.
