The police have postponed the so-called advertising branch of the Čapí hnízdo case. It investigated suspected tax evasion in the case of payments from the Agrofert holding for advertising in the Čapí hnízdo center. The case will be brought to the prosecutor’s desk.
“After the review, if the conclusions of the police authorities have sufficient basis in the evidence collected, the (supervising prosecutor) will accept the resolution to postpone the case,” said Aleš Cimbala, spokesman for the Prague City Prosecutor’s Office. Otherwise, he will cancel the order to adjourn the case.
The police were investigating suspicions that the CZK 272 million Čapí hnízdo collected between 2010 and 2013 did not go to advertising but helped Agrofert pay off its loan and reduce its taxes.
The police began investigating the possible tax evasion in connection with investigating a potential subsidy fraud surrounding the Čapí hnízdo farm. ANO chairman Andrej Babiš and his former adviser Jana Nagyová are accused in this case. The Prague City Court will hear the indictment in this branch in September.
Babiš and his former adviser Jana Nagyová (formerly Mayerová), have already been charged with subsidy fraud and damage to the EU’s financial interests; under the Criminal Code, they face up to ten years in prison.
According to previous reports, prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch recommends a three-year suspended sentence and a CZK 10 million fine for the ex-premier, while Nagyová is asking for the same suspended sentence and a CZK 500,000 fine.
In the subsidy branch of the case, the crux of the case is that Babiš’s holding Agrofert initially owned Čapí hnízdo. Still, in December 2007, it was transformed into a joint-stock company with shares in the owner. It later received a 50 million EU subsidy under the program for small and medium-sized enterprises, which it would not have been entitled to as part of Agrofert. Babiš’s children and partner allegedly owned the shares. The company returned to Agrofert after several years.