Czech president Pavel paid 15,000 euros for flight home to vote

Czech President Petr Pavel has disclosed how much his trip to Morocco and his return home to vote in the elections cost him. In a statement he stressed that the trip was private and that the presidential office neither paid for nor organised it.

“I consider my words important in terms of transparency and openness, but politically I reject any interference in my private life,” the president said, apparently responding, among other things, to the Chamber of Deputies’ demand that he document how the trip was financed.

How the president travelled

Pavel flew to Morocco on 2 October on a plane chartered by the Fesh Fesh team, which took part in the Rallye du Maroc race. The president took one of the free seats and paid for it.

According to Pavel, the flight to the elections from Casablanca to Prague was organised by one of the participants in the trip, Tomáš Šebek, and the president paid 15,000 euros for the flight. Besides Šebek, he was accompanied by businessman Pavel Kubíček and a member of the protection service. “That was my share of the total payment,” Pavel explained. On Thursday he returned home on a scheduled flight.

“I believe that this explains the matter and closes it,” the president added.

Not voting would have been a mistake

Pavel first announced that he would be on a private holiday during the elections, explaining it as a planning error. After criticism of his possible absence, he flew back to the country for a day on election day to vote in the municipal elections in his home village of Černouček. On that occasion he said that not going to vote would have been a mistake, and he apologised.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz