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bne May 2023 Central Europe I 47
ousting of Fico and Smer after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in 2018. Corruption charges against Fico himself have been temporarily dropped but the case against former interior minister Robert Kalinak has been reopened.
Kazimir was backed by Fico who called the ruling “constructed” and based on “made up lies” of the whistleblower Imrecze. On his Facebook page, Fico highlighted that Kazimir “has parted ways with Smer already in 2018” and that the
case serves as a pretext to “hit on Smer” .
The case against Kazimir was
dropped last year but then reopened after Imrecze confessed and began cooperating with police. Imrecze,
who was found guilty of corruption in February, could also play a role in other investigations, notably that of Kalinak and Smer-SD-linked oligarch
Jozef Brhel.
In February, after the court found Imrecze guilty, he told the media
that he was “part of the system of compensation of salaries”, which is “just one of the expressions of the organised and close connection of oligarchy with the highest state power at that time”. Imrecze said he was sorry for it and was cooperating with Slovak authorities.
The Special Criminal Court was set up by the current government to deal with corruption committed by state officials. Its ruling is not yet in legal force, and the state prosecutor has filed an appeal demanding stricter punishment for Kazimir.
Babis’ fraud case to be reopened after state prosecutor appeals January acquittal
Albin Sybera
Czech state prosecutor Jaroslav Saroch has appealed the court decision that acquitted billionaire Czech opposition leader Andrej Babis and his former manager Jana Nagyova of fraud charges in January. Babis and Nagyova were accused of fraudulently obtaining a €2mn EU subsidy for the conference centre Stork’s Nest linked to Babis.
“I can confirm I have formally filed the appeal,” state prosecutor Jaroslav Saroch was quoted as saying by Czech Radio after the public broadcaster reached out to Saroch for comment. Czech Radio also quoted the city prosecution’s office spokesperson in Prague, Ales Cimbal, who said the appeal would be completed before the May 5 deadline.
“Considering the size of the written ruling, its structure and the complexity of the case, the state prosecutor is now studying the delivered ruling in detail,” Cimbal told Czech Radio, and explained that Saroch is considering “which argumentation he will use” and where his appeal will challenge the ruling. The appeal will be examined by the Supreme Court in Prague.
Babis’ lawyer Michael Bartoncik told the Czech Press Agency (CTK) there are no viable grounds for the appeal. “The
examination of evidence was done in
an exhausting way. I don’t know of any new evidence which could be examined,” Bartoncik was quoted as saying by
CTK. Populist ANO party leader Babis referred to his lawyer’s statement when approached for comment by CTK.
Nagyova, who ran in the Senate elections for ANO last autumn before losing to the Senate President Milos Vystrcil in his home district of Jihlava, told Czech Radio she is not surprised about the appeal given the position Babis wields in Czech politics. The steps of the state prosecutor “are a great disappointment to me, on the other hand given the political dimension I understand it”, Nagyova was quoted as saying by Czech Radio.
Babis lost a highly watched presidential race to Petr Pavel just a few weeks after being cleared but pledged to “not give up fighting” on behalf of the people against centre-right cabinet of Petr Fiala. Although ANO was established as a pro-business anti-corruption platform, Babis has in recent months styled himself as the “people’s” candidate and is criticising the cabinet for mishandling the energy and costs of living crisis.
In the Stork’s Nest case, Babis and his former manager Nagyova were accused of trying to conceal the conference centre’s ties to Babis’ large food, chemical, and agricultural conglomerate Agrofert in order to claim an EU subsidy designed for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Anti-corruption NGOs such as Transparency International have been ringing alarm bells about the case since Babis entered politics at the national elections in 2013. The centre had originally been owned by Agrofert but was then transferred to a new company, owned by Babis' family members, with his estranged son testifying that he was never the owner and his signature was most likely forged. The judge accepted that the signature of Babis' sons was probably forged but said this had no bearing on Babis' guilt or otherwise over the subsidy.
UK bank HSBC also provided a loan to this new unknown company because
of its links to Agrofert, and Agrofert advertised heavily at the conference centre. In 2015 Babis was even caught on camera boasting that Stork’s Nest was his idea and was one of his best projects. Babis refused to answer police or the court's questions over the case.
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