The High Public Prosecutor’s Office will review the actions of the supervising public prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch in the Stork’s Nest case. Deník N reports. The review is related to the fact that Šaroch submitted his decision to return the case to the police for further investigation at the end of August, but had the information since July.
On Tuesday, Šaroch decided that the case of a 50 million subsidy for the construction of the Čapí hnízdo farm, in which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and his former adviser Jana Nagyová (formerly Mayerová) are accused, would be returned to the police to continue the investigation. According to him, the reason is new information that appeared after the police closed the investigation at the end of May.
Deník N writes that according to Šaroch’s instructions, the police should question the prime minister’s son Andrej Babiš Jr. and according to the Seznam Zprávy server also a former manager and member of the wider management of the Čapí hnízdo farm, who reported to the plaintiffs.
Mojmír Frček from the Prague High Public Prosecutor’s Office Deník N said that the Office, within the scope of its supervisory powers, requested from the supervisory Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague “the submission of specific additional information, with appropriate measures taken if necessary.”
When asked whether the High Public Prosecutor’s Office will focus on whether Šaroch did not prolong its decision-making, Frček replied to the daily that Šaroch’s current procedural procedure would be a part of the mentioned review. According to Aleš Cimbala, a spokesman for the Prague City Public Prosecutor’s Office, where Šaroch operates, the case has been overseen for a long time.
The Čapí hnízdo farm originally belonged to Babiš’s holding Agrofert. In December 2007, it was transformed into a joint-stock company with bearer shares and later received a European grant in the SME program, to which it would not be entitled as part of Agrofert. The shares were owned by Babiš’s children and partner. The company returned to Agrofert after a few years. In 2017, Babiš holding invested in its trust funds.
The Prime Minister has long claimed that the case is purposeful and artificially constructed. Nagy has said in the past that she believes the law has not been broken. Investigators accuse both accused of damaging the financial interests of the European Union and of subsidy fraud.