Prague, (CTK) – The state should check the truthfulness of Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s words that one can order criminal prosecution in the Czech Republic, the Czech Bar Chamber (CAK) said today.
If it is true what Babis said, the state must intervene, the CAK said.
Babis said this last week, when the Chamber of Deputies was debating his release for prosecution over an EU subsidy fraud.
“We are living in a country where you can order prosecution and probably get someone to prison,” he said at the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies.
The lower house eventually approved the release of him and ANO first deputy head Jaroslav Faltynek in the Capi hnizdo case.
“This is an order by the mafia that was stealing billions here,” Babis said on the police request for his release for prosecution.
“CAK considers the statement by Babis, who questions the impartiality of law-enforcement bodies, very serious,” it said.
“It cannot be ignored that this is a statement by the prime minister who has confidential information at his disposal,” CAK said.
The relevant bodies, including the justice and interior ministers and the supreme state attorney, should check the suspicion expressed by Babis, it added.
“If it is confirmed what Babis said, it will be necessary to adopt basic measures to renew the rule of law. In the opposite case, the public must be informed that the statements by Babis were not true,” the CAK said.
Babis’s statements have been criticised by the opposition, the police command, Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman and chairman of the Supreme Court Pavel Samal.
Justice Minister Robert Pelikan, who is a member of ANO like Babis, has refused to comment on the case.