9. prosince 2013 | Press Conferences

Již osm statečných

For the third consecutive year the Anticorruption Endowment (NFPK) has been awarding Prizes for Courage to citizens not scared away from blowing the whistle on corrupt practices, often regardless of the personal price they often have to pay. This year’s awardees are former City Council official Jiří Chytil, and Vladimír Sitta Jr., who helped to expose a corruption case at the Prague Transport Company.

The story of Jiří Chytil is one of personal bravery with a bitter aftermath. A one-time clerk at the Prague City Council, he was a secret witness in the OpenCard case, in 2009-2010, who helped police investigators to disentangle threads leading to the political background of a problematic contract with the company, Haguess. However, a change of the investigating team brought a change of heart and Chytil with another four officials suddenly found themselves facing charges.

The story of Vladimír Sitta Jr. is closely associated with a case of the Prague Transport Company. Mr. Sitta and his father refused to engage in stripping the assets of the Prague Transport Company and lost their family concern. Vladimír Sitta Jr. pointed since July 2009 to shady dealings in the company Neograph, originally founded by his father and grandfather. However, police failed to take radical steps and when the case went public, a co-owner expelled Sitta from the company management.

“Both awardees are classic examples of whistle-blowers, the support of which is one of the main objectives of the Anticorruption Endowment. They exposed theft in “state-owned” enterprises—the Prague Transport Company and the Prague City Hall. The amount of money that ended in the pockets of thieves is far beyond the imaginative powers of most of us. On the contrary, both men awarded today were the targets of physical and psychological assault. Therefore we deem it necessary to support such people, so other citizens are encouraged to defy corruption and know they have a level of protection,” member of the NFPK Board of Trustees Stanislav Bernard said about the Prize for Courage awardees.

Past Prizes for Courage went to Libor Michálek (corruption case in the State Environmental Fund), Ondřej Závodský (suspect contracts in the Ministry of the Interior Service Facility), Renata Horáková (corruption in Znojmo Townhall), Jakub Klouzal (overpriced IT contracts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Věra Ježková (probably marred investment of semi-state company ČEZ), and Martin Konečný (questionable clemencies granted by President Václav Klaus).

The Anticorruption Endowment was established as a fully independent initiative by persons alarmed by the deep penetration of corrupt practices into state administration. Its mission is to support and help promote ethnical values in a democratic society, support the exposure of corrupt practices in state administration, and support projects exposing corruption.

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