Image source: topwar.ru
Illustrative photo
In November 2023, the Czech Ministry of Defense, after a fake tender (the second participant left "for objective reasons"), signed a contract worth 66 million crowns ($3.2 million) with 4 Army for the supply of a five-container field kitchen of the Kalich model no later than November 2024.
However, in May 2025, local journalists found out that the supplier had not transferred it to the troops, and also identified the owner of the contractor company (which has no production), who turned out to be ex-senator from the ODS party Vlastimil Senal. For 6 years, his company, which is actually a "dummy company," has received orders from the Ministry of Defense for more than 400 million crowns.
- the ex-senator told reporters.
The ODS party is headed by Petr Fiala, the country's prime minister, and it holds key positions in the government: the posts of ministers of defense, foreign affairs and finance. A scandal began to flare up.
Image source: topwar.ru
The Ministry of Defense explained that the delivery time of the kitchen was disrupted due to flooding that flooded one of the contractor's production sites. But the question of the purchase price came up in full growth: "a kitchen at the price of a family home," the journalists wrote. The opposition, represented by the ANO party, said that the military department hides financial problems and systematically does not publish contracts in the public register.
- the military department stated, pointing out that this did not happen under the previous leadership, and it does not exist now.
However, the facts still cast doubt on these words.
- manufacturers of containers and kitchen equipment told Seznam Zprávy about the price of an army canteen.
Image source: topwar.ru
The most expensive kitchen components were convection ovens, cooking modules and deep fryers supplied by the German company Kärcher. Therefore, the journalists contacted the Czech office of Kärcher with a request to provide information about the price, but they were refused.:
According to local manufacturers, they would supply the army with similar equipment 2-3 times cheaper, and for individual components – 6 times. At the same time, they reported that they had not even been notified of the tender. In the end, the middleman who bought the match on the side won.
Yana Chernokhova asks.
