Prague, Jan 14 (CTK) – Brief profiles of Czech Presidential Office head Vratislav Mynar, 50, and President Milos Zeman’s close aide Martin Nejedly, 51, from which Zeman should distance himself before the presidential runoff according to Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO):
Vratislav Mynar:
– Mynar has been heading the Presidential Office since 2013. He has been criticised mainly for not having a top security clearance from the National Security Office (NBU) so far. He applied for the clearance after he joined the Presidential Office, but he announced in late 2015 that he was not granted it. Zeman then said Mynar could occupy a dignified position in his office even without the clearance.
– Mynar unsuccessfully appealed the NBU decision not to give him the clearance and then he took the issue to court. The Presidential office then said Zeman would let Mynar use all the opportunities to appeal and would not dismiss him prior to a final court decision. The court has not decided on the issue yet.
– Mynar also faced criticism because he kept secret his incomes for a long time and did not release a property statement. In 2014, he bought a villa in Prague for an apparently very low price, which attracted public attention. He eventually made a financial disclosure earlier this month, according to which he had real estate, shares and cash worth approximately one hundred million crowns.
– In 2017, Mynar’s letter supporting a rather unknown Czech firm Liglass Trading that was to win a huge hydro power plant deal in Kyrgyzstan surfaced. The Kyrgyz side scrapped the plan after doubts about it were raised.
– Mynar was born on June 23, 1967 in Kyjov, south Moravia. He graduated from the Technical University in Brno. He was active in business in the 1990s. Unil 2005, he was a member of the supervisory board of Ceskomoravska zelezarenska ironworks, which he owned together with controversial entrepreneur Radim Masny. In 2009-2012, Mynar was board member of the Tessile ditta services firm that dealt with the payment of fines fare dodgers should pay to the Prague public transport company.
– In 2010-13 he was chairman of the Party of Citizens’ Rights (SPO) that was created around Zeman. He heads the SPO regional branch in the Zlin Region now. He was the manager of Zeman’s successful campaign before the presidential election five years ago. He was a SPO regional leader running in the 2013 general election, but the party failed in the polls. He has been a member of the municipal authority in Osvetimany, south Moravia, in the Zlin Region since 2006.
– After divorcing his wife Kamila, he married TV moderator Alexandra Noskova in February 2015. Their son Vratislav was born in May 2015.
Martin Nejedly:
– He is an aide to President Zeman whom he accompanies on foreign trips. He is considered one of the key figure around Zeman. He took part in a meeting of Zeman and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is not paid by the Presidential Office, but has his own office there. He is the deputy chairman of the Party of Citizens’ Rights.
– Nejedly was one of the sponsors of the SPO, which had formed on an impulse from former communist official, controversial lobbyist and Zeman’s former close collaborator Miroslav Slouf. Zeman said Nejedly gave his own money to the SPO. Zeman resolutely dismissed the view that the huge Russian oil firm Lukoil, with which Nejedly cooperated, financially supported him.
– He was the representative of the Lukoil Aviation Czech firm, from its establishment in 2007 to mid-2015 when it entered into liquidation. This firm had a court dispute with the Czech state that demanded that it pay a fine of about 30 million crowns for reserves of kerosene jet fuel. Despite the long dispute, Zeman insisted that Nejedly keep his post of aide.
– – Nejedly was born on July 7, 1966 in Kunovice, south Moravia. He played the top volleyball competition in the Czech Republic and Germany. According to available information, he started doing business when he ended his sport career, being based in Russia for a number of years, where he traded in used cars from Germany, among others. In Russia, he started cooperating with people from the oil business. He mediated deliveries of technology for pipeline construction for Lukoil, among others.
– In 2015, the Czech media noted that Nejedly had a diplomatic passport, but that he had no right to receive it. Former foreign minister Jan Kohout approved the issuing of the passport for Nejedly in December 2013.