Lawyer Radek Pokorný's double OKD role
One of the two witnesses who appeared yesterday before the investigative commission for the privatization of OKD was an ex-official of the ÚOHS antitrust office, Kamil Rudolecký. His testimony was closed to the public, but he was one of several state officials involved in convincing the EU Commission in Jan. 2006 that the sale of OKD to Karbon Invest wasn't illegal. Martin Brož of the finance ministry told the police that the text of the letter to this effect sent on Finance Min. Bohuslav Sobotka's letterhead was drafted by lawyer Radek Pokorný and that he thought that Pokorný was working for the ministry or the National Property Fund. Turns out that Pokorný was working for Zdeněk Bakala's Karbon Invest. Pokorný has already indicated that he will try to avoid speaking to the commission by invoking attorney-client privilege, but it was his relationship to Sobotka that allowed him to play his double OKD role. Is the Sobotka-Pokorný relationship subject to client privilege?
Glossary of difficult words
letterhead - stationery with a printed heading;to invoke - to cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an argument;
attorney-client privilege - the right of a subject of a lawsuit or criminal case to keep his or her communications with legal counsel private.