...investigating money laundering suspicion of Kraus

PRAGUE- The financial police have started to look into a suspicion of money laundering in the case of outgoing deputy Michal Kraus (Social Democrats, CSSD), police spokeswoman Lucie Uhlirova said.

The suspicion is investigated in connection with Kraus's trip to Ghana in 2001 and related business activities, she added.

The daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) recently alerted to the strange trip by Kraus and businessman Frantisek Rigo, now serving a 10-year sentence for fraud, to Ghana.

According to MfD Kraus signed in Ghana a contract on the purchase of the PBC cocoa beans processing plant for half a million crowns as ProAfri director. The transaction did not eventually materialise.

Shortly after his return from Ghana Kraus allegedly complied with a request of Rigo, whose account was blocked then, and offered the savings bank account of his mother for the transfer of an equivalent of 50,000 dollars in crowns to Ghana.

The money was to be an advance payment for the plant.

Kraus claims that he had done nothing bad and illegal.

He has resigned as chairman of the CSSD deputy group and the Chamber of Deputies' budget committee a few days ago.

On Monday he also announced he will resign as deputy and as the leader of the June general election CSSD list of candidates in the north Bohemian region of Liberec.

He said he thus wants to prevent his case from further damaging the CSSD.