Prague, July 4 (CTK) – A possible leak to Bulgaria’s government about CEZ energy group’s plan to sell its Bulgarian assets was close to a criminal offence, Vaclav Paces, former chairman of CEZ’s supervisory board, told the server Neovlivni.cz.
He admitted the investigation into the case launched by CEZ in the spring, when he was sitting on the board, could be one of the reasons behind his removal from the post. CEZ’s general meeting made a decision on Paces’s dismissal at the end of June.
The Finance Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Bulgarian media wrote in the spring that Ondrej Landa, a CEZ supervisory board member and deputy finance minister, had provided some confidential information on the deal to the Bulgarian side.
Neovlivni.cz said Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told Bulgarian deputies in March he had documents from Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis about Russian-Georgian companies, based in tax havens, and Russian and Bulgarian banks being involved in the deal. Landa and Babis denied the information.
After Babis took control of CEZ one cannot expect the investigation into the case to be completed, Paces said.
CEZ signed a contract on the sale of its Bulgarian assets to the local company Inercom in February. The deal is worth some Kc8.1bn, according to Bulgarian media.