Former Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas was handed a prison sentence of 2.5 years suspended for four years and a fine of CZK1mn (€41,953) for his role in bribing parliamentarians with lucrative public posts in exchange for their support for his cabinet’s tax package.

The affair was one of the reasons his rightwing Civic Democrat led government collapsed in 2013 after police units stormed government offices and several ministries in what is probably the most high-profile police raid in Czechia’s history.   Necas is the only Czech premier to be convicted of a serious offence committed in office up to now. 

Necas’ wife Jana Necasova (then Nagyova), who was the then head of his cabinet and who has also faced charges for abuse of military intelligence in a separate hearing, was handed a conditional 2 year prison term and a fine of CZK300,000 as was the then Deputy Minister of Agriculture Roman Bocek.

“The act” was “clearly proven”, judge Anezka Pudilova said in a verdict quoted by the Czech Press Agency (CTK). The accused faced a sentence of up to 6 years of jail time, and evidence included Necasova's text messages.  

The sentence is not yet in legal force, and Necas’ lawyer Adam Cerny has appealed it at the Prague 1 courtroom. All three sentenced deny any wrongdoing. Cerny argued that the offer of posts does not constitute bribery.

Necasova and Bocek promised parliamentarians Marek Snajdr, Petr Tluchor and Ivan Fuksa high-profile public posts if they backed the cabinet’s tax legislation. After getting approved, Snajdr became the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the state oil reserves company Cepro and Fuksa a member of the board of the Czech Aeroholding company operating the country’s main airport Ruzyne in Prague.

The police raid in June 2013 led to disgust with the country's political elite and paved the way for early elections later that year, which brought to parliament new populist and far-right parties, the ANO vehicle of billionaire Andrej Babis and the SPD vehicle of another businessman Tomio Okamura.  In the meantime, the country was run by a technocratic cabinet comprised of allies of the then-president Milos Zeman.  

All three Civic Democrat (ODS) premiers – Vaclav Klaus, Milan Topolanek and Necas – have had to resign at least in part over corruption scandals. The ODS, under Petr Fiala, was only able to return to power in 2022 as part of a five-party coalition.