Czech Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar is facing suspicions of plagiarism on his university thesis.

Metnar said on Wednesday that he would comment on the issue by the end of this week.

Metnar graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Ostrava, north Moravia in 2004. According to the report of Czech Television (CT), Metnar failed to properly quote all sources listed in his 2004 diploma thesis.

Metnar's plagiarism suspicion concerns his MA thesis on collective investments. It includes a list of the used sources, but there are only very few direct references to them in the text. At least eight pages are completely copied from another book or their text is only slightly modified without clear references to the source, said CT.

In a message Metnar wrote to CT on Wednesday, he said he is "analysing my thesis and I expect to take a position on it by the end of the week."

Metnar said he was in touch with Prime Minister Andrej Babis and kept him informed about the issue. Babis is waiting for the result of the analysis of Metnar's thesis.

Czech President Milos Zeman's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said that the Presidential Office respects Babis's decision to wait for the analysis result and would not comment on the issue for now. Last week, Zeman said plagiarism amounts to theft and any minister caught stealing should not only step down but not seek any public posts either.

After former justice minister Tatana Mala and former labor and social affairs minister Petr Krcal, Metnar is the third minister who faces a plagiarism scandal since June when Babis's coalition government was appointed by Zeman. Mala and Krcal have stepped down.