Jiří Weigl

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Born	January 21, 1958
Occupation	economist

Jiří Weigl (* 1958) is a Czech economist, Head of the Office of President Václav Klaus^[wp] in 2003-2013, since January 2009 member of the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV).

Study and career

In 1981 he graduated from the Foreign Trade Economics at the University of Economics and then studied Arabic and Oriental Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University.

From 1984 to 1989 he was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

From 1986 to 1990 he was employed at the Economic Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as adviser to Václav Klaus, Minister of Finance. In 1992, Václav Klaus brought him to the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic as the head of the board of advisors to the Prime Minister, where he worked until 1998. From 1999 to 2000 he was the Chief Investment Officer of the Investment and Post Bank. Between 2000 and 2003, he was the CEO of the Center for Economics and Politics (CEP).

From 2003 to 2013, he served as Head of the Office of President Václav Klaus. Presidential successor Miloš Zeman^[wp] said on March 10, 2013 that Weigl was replaced by former SPOZ chairman Vratislav Mynar. Zeman offered George Weigl to remain in office, but he refused to leave for work at the Václav Klaus Institute.

Critique

Meeting with Miroslav Šlouf

In January 2008, Jiří Weigl met at the Savoy Hotel in Prague with lobbyist Miroslav Šlouf^[wp] (CSSD). Server Aktuálně.cz then published the part of the meeting record four days before the election of the president, and the escape of this video was subsequently investigated by Czech intelligence and inspection by the Interior Minister. The published footage influenced the election of the president in 2008, for example, the Green Party^[wp] changed its mind and insisted on the public election of the head of state. Šlouf is seen as a very controversial person, as he confessed to contacts with the murdered entrepreneur František Mrázek, who was considered the leading person of organized crime in the Czech Republic.

Recommendation letter for Viktor Kožený

The February Respekt^[wp] Weekly newspaper, Respect, published Weigl's letter of 24 October 1997 to Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev^[wp], recommending Viktor Kožený^[wp] as a pioneer of privatization processes, whose experience can also be useful for privatization projects in Azerbaijan. Weigl wrote a letter of recommendation at the request of former Prime Minister Václav Klaus when he worked as the head of the team of his advisors at the Office of the Government. Kožený already lived with the Irish passport in the Bahamas at the time of sending the letter and was considered a controversial person who was suspected of spitting out privatization funds in the Czech Republic.

Family life

He is the daughter of Magdalen Weigl's daughter. In 2011, she caused a road accident that killed her friend. She was accused of being killed by negligence. However, she was not punished because she was also subject to the amnesty of President Václav Klaus^[ext].