Pressure mounts on Czech vice-PM in bribe probe

...

PRAGUE, March 14 (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Wednesday turned up the heat on his deputy Jiri Cunek to quit over an investigation into alleged bribe-taking.

Cunek, leader of the centrist Christian Democrat party, a junior partner in Topolanek's coalition government, has refused to quit, denying any wrongdoing.

Topolanek has long refrained from calling on Cunek to leave, but on Wednesday signalled he was losing patience after Cunek failed to show up for police questioning due to what he said was excessive media pressure on him.

"I cannot force him into anything, but I think that in the end, the pressure will force him (out)," Topolanek told reporters.

The scandal has overshadowed Topolanek's centre-right government which came to power in January after more than seven months of political wrangling which followed a tie between left and centre-right parties in last June's parliamentary election.

The Christian Democrats are key allies for Topolanek, because the three-party government holds just 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament.

Though the scandal has become a black mark on Topolanek's government -- which promised to stamp out corruption -- Cunek's resignation as deputy prime minister would not change the balance of power in the lower house. Cunek is in any case a member of the upper house, or Senate.

Cunek and his party have made no indication that they would leave the ruling coalition over the issue.

Topolanek has said Cunek could come back if he is cleared, but Cunek said in response that he was staying for now.

Cunek was stripped of his immunity from prosecution last month and police charged him with taking a 500,000 crown ($23,350) bribe from a real estate firm while he was the mayor of an eastern town in 2002.

The Christian Democrats have so far stood behind their chief, whom they elected last year in hopes he would lead the party out of a long decline. But an increasing number of party officials have criticised their leader.

The third government partner, the Green Party, has also been critical of Cunek, who also leads the regional development ministry, for staying on during the investigation.

The Czech Republic has gone through a string of sleaze scandals since the end of communist rule in 1989.

Accusations of illegal party financing toppled the right-wing government of current President Vaclav Klaus in 1997, and Social Democrat Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned due to a personal financial scandal in 2005. ($1=21.41 Czech Crown)

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS/