Cena za odvahu pro Jakuba Klouzala

The Anticorruption Endowment (NFPK) today awarded the first Prize for Courage in 2012. The prize rewards whistleblowers who have no fear to point out corruption.

This year’s first awardee is Jakub Klouzal, former head of the IT Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (MFA), who detected and documented overpricing of contracts in the realm of information technologies at the MFA and prevented the loss of hundreds of millions of crowns of public funds.

He communicated his findings to Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and his closest aides. The documentation collected by Jakub Klouzal was submitted to the bodies participating in criminal proceedings. Unknown delinquents subsequently threatened him with bodily harm and physical liquidation. In his workplace he was subjected to harassment from his colleagues, which led to his exiting the MFA.

The Anticorruption Endowment greatly appreciates Jakub’s exemplary attitudes and has decided to assist him in his anticorruption efforts by providing legal advice and awarding him with the Prize for Courage, which comes complete with a reward of 100,000 CZK.

“Now that corruption has permeated state administration, there are still desperately few people around such as Jakub Klouzal, but I firmly trust their ranks will continue to expand. This society badly needs whistleblowers,” says Karel Janeček, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Anticorruption Endowment.

Please find more details about this case on the NFPK website http://www.nfpk.cz/en/jakub-klouzal

Contact: Linda Majerová, NFPK Project Manager, tel.: 734 315 353, e-mail: linda.majerova@nfpk.cz, www.nfpk.cz