Ivo Svoboda (politician)

Ivo Svoboda (6 April 1948 – 23 February 2017[1]) was a Czech politician and economist who served as 3rd Finance Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 1999 in government of Prime Minister Miloš Zeman.

Ivo Svoboda
3rd Minister of Finance
In office
22 July 1998 – 20 July 1999
Prime MinisterMiloš Zeman
Preceded byIvan Pilip
Succeeded byPavel Mertlík
Personal details
Born(1948-04-06)6 April 1948
Czechoslovakia
Died23 February 2017(2017-02-23) (aged 68)
Czech Republic
Political partySocial Democratic Party

Svoboda started his political career as a Deputy in the Czech National Council (from 1990 to 1992). Since 1997, he was the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the company Liberta in Mělník. From 1997 to 1999, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party. He became the Minister of Finance in July 1998 as his party won the national election, following a campaign promising voters a corruption-free government.[2] In July 1999, police announced their intention to start prosecution proceedings on criminal charges against Svoboda while he was still in the Cabinet.[3] His term as Minister of Finance came to an end less than a week later, as he was sacked by President Václav Havel.[4]

Svoboda was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2005[5] due to his involvement in tunneling of the Liberta company, becoming the first government minister following the Velvet Revolution to receive such a sentence.[6] He left prison in October 2008, after having served three years of his sentence.[7][8]

References
  1. http://zpravy.idnes.cz/zemrel-exministr-financi-svoboda-dqx-/domaci.aspx?c=A170301_162528_domaci_pku
  2. Green, Peter S. (27 February 2001). "Czechs Cracking Down on Fraud". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  3. "Czech minister to be prosecuted". BBC News. 15 July 1999. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  4. "Czech finance minister sacked". BBC News. 20 July 1999. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  5. Štráfeldová, Milena (2 February 2005). "Exministr Ivo Svoboda půjde na pět let do vězení" (in Czech). Czech Radio. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  6. Třeček, Čeněk (15 April 2009). "Snopková po návratu z vězení žaluje stát o miliardu za Libertu". Mladá fronta DNES (in Czech). Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  7. Willoughby, Ian (23 October 2008). "Former finance minister freed from jail". Czech Radio. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  8. "Zemřel exministr financí Svoboda. Prošel vězením za vytunelování Liberty". iDNES.cz. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.


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