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Former Czech defense minister to face prosecution

12 July 2012 00:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Former Czech defense minister Vlasta Parkanova is expected to face prosecution as the parliament voted on Wednesday to strip her immunity from criminal charges as a lawmaker, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Parkanova, a powerful figure of the TOP 09 party, resigned from her current post as the deputy speaker following the lower house of parliament’s approval of her prosecution over alleged power abuse.

Police said Parkanova, who has served as defense minister from 2007 to 2009, did not "act responsibly" as she allowed Czech armed forces to buy four Spanish airplanes for inflated price, reportedly leading to loss of more than 30 million U.S. dollars.

Parkanova has denied any wrongdoing.

According to Czech Constitution, the police is not allowed to start criminal proceedings against members of Parliament without approval of the Parliament.