Prague, July 31 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) will propose district state attorney’s office head Radim Dragoun for the director of the General Inspection of Security Corps (GIBS), Government Office spokeswoman Petra Dolezalova told CTK today.
Dragoun won a competition for the post, in which 12 people participated. Babis accepted the winner of the competition, Dolezalova said.
According to the media, Dragoun is an ally of Prague High State Attorney Lenka Bradacova.
In May, Michal Murin left the post of the GIBS chief after disputes with Babis. State attorneys were critical of the work of the police inspection authority and mentioned a long-term lack of cooperation with them amonng the biggest problems.
The GIBS said Babis had repeatedly exerted pressure on Murin to make him quit as the GIBS head. Babis told Murin that if he left voluntarily, it would “pass without a scandal,” the GIBS added.
GIBS directors are appointed and dismissed by the prime minister if this is proposed by the government and discussed with the lower house committee supervising GIBS activities. The previous directors were chosen without a competition.
Babis denied this, but he subsequently started criticising Murin in public and launched disciplinary proceedings against him. He said he did not trust Murin and challenged the GIBS’s financial management.
Murin was taken to hospital due to exhaustion and long-lasting stress and then left his post on his own.
The GIBS has been established in 2012. Its first head was Ivan Bilek who was replaced by Murin in December 2015.
Lenka Haderkova, who heads the GIBS legal department, has been temporarily heading the inspection since Murin’s departure. In June, Babis had to announce the second round of the tender for a new director as only one person applied for the job in the first round. The media reported it was Haderkova.
Dragoun is the head of the State Attorney’s Office in Louny in northwest Bohemia. He studied at the Police Academy and graduated in law from the West Bohemian University.