Martin Barták, widely presumed to have been charged by anti-corruption police for attempted fraud and bribery in the military’s Kč 2.6 billion order for Tatra all-terrain trucks in 2006, says the charges against him are flawed, trumped up and politicized — and key witnesses like ex-US Amb. William J Cabaniss can’t even recall basic details of the alleged bribery attempt.

A rumor has spread among Czech politicians and lobbyists that the investigation into former defense minister Martin Barták in connection with Czech army orders worth Kč 2.7 billion is to be transferred from the Ostrava region prosecution service to Prague on Friday. According to the rumors, the Prague prosecution service is to ensure that the investigation into the army purchases be dropped.

Tatra supervisory board head and ex-US Ambassador William J. Cabaniss sent letters in 2008 to then-Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and two Czech ministers complaining about an alleged attempt to solicit a bribe from Tatra, AmCham’s cheif executive Weston Stacey tells Czech Position in an exclusive interview. Topolánek calls the changes “slanderous” and part of a media campaign by Tatra’s “obviously corrupt management.”

The Barták affair is putting PM Petr Nečas’ pledge to tackle corruption to the test, but Transparency International’s David Ondráčka says it will take systemic change to kill the ‘Octopus’ — the opaque procurement and acquisitions system within the Defense Ministry that lines the pockets of corrupt politicians and shady middlemen. And Defense Minister ‘Saša’ Vondra’s ‘White Paper’ aims to do just that.