The BIS inspectorate is interested in the leak of wiretapping information. She also interviewed President Zeman — ČT24 — Czech Television
According to President Miloš Zeman, Martin Nejedlý, an adviser to the president, and other close collaborators should have been wiretapped by counterintelligence in the past. Zeman went public about it in August 2021, citing an unnamed BIS officer as his source. According to the president, the director of the secret service, Michal Koudelka, ordered the wiretapping.
Now the president of the BIS inspection visited. This way you save possible information leakage. Miloš Zeman confirmed that people from the secret services were with him, but he is convinced that they should investigate something else – the wiretapping itself. They claim they were illegal.
“I complained that the BIS has not yet investigated the information about the alleged wiretapping of the President of the Republic and his associates. I referred them – and here you can see how I wish the journalists – to Mr. Kmenta’s article in Reportér magazine, where Mr. Kmenta states that these wiretappings were illegal,” said Zeman.
Weekly Newsletter he specifically wrote that BIS people from the Castle were eavesdropping on the Agáta device, which was near the Castle and recorded all telephone calls. Thus, according to the letter, the secret service did not ask the court for permission to wiretap a specific person.
Jana Černochová (ODS), who was the chairman of the defense committee of the lower house at the time when Zeman came up with the information about the alleged wiretapping, said at the time that she would not be surprised if the BIS was interested in the president’s associates.
“Mr. Nejedlý and close associates of Mr. President at Prague Castle do not have security clearances. Therefore, it cannot surprise me if the intelligence services or the police have clues that lead them to these people,” she said.
The situation was also dealt with by the parliamentary committee for BIS control. “Based on what the director of BIS told us, we came to the conclusion that the law was not violated by BIS,” member Ondřej Kolář (TOP 09) confirmed. According to the chairman of the commission, Pavel Bělobrádek (KDU-ČSL), the topic could be returned to when the service completes its current investigation.
BIS itself refuses to comment on the current investigation into the alleged leaks of information about deployed wiretapping. Even the supervisory High State Prosecutor’s Office in Prague does not want to say more. “With regard to the stadium proceedings, it is not possible to comment on the matter,” stated senior state attorney Lenka Bradáčová.
According to CT information, however, BIS suspects a specific former reporter who could have leaked the information. The entire investigation should take at least another three months.
Miloš Zeman has long been critical of the work of counterintelligence and its director Koudelka. He disputed her warnings about Russian or Chinese agents and repeatedly rejected government proposals to promote Koudelka to general.