Judge Jan Šott has completed the justification of the judgment by which his panel cleared the chairman of the ANO movement Andrej Babiš and his former colleague Jana Nagyová (formerly Mayerová) in the Čapí hnízdo case. They were responsible for subsidy fraud, Nagyová was also accused of damaging the financial interests of the European Union. At the same time, the appeal period began to run on Wednesday.
“Due to the complexity and extraordinary scope of the criminal case, the file has over 36,000 pages, the deadline for drafting the verdict was extended to April 6 at the request of the president of the senate,” Adam Wenig, spokesman for the Municipal Court in Prague, informed Aktuálně.cz in March. where the Hornbill’s Nest case was handled.
As Seznam Zprávy has now pointed out, Judge Šott made it to the notified deadline. The justification of the verdict, why he acquitted Babiš and Nagyová in the case of possible subsidy fraud during the construction of Babiš’s congress center near Olbramovice in Benešovské, is written.
“I can confirm that the copy of the judgment of the Municipal Court in Prague in what is referred to as the Čapí nízdo case was delivered to the data box of the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague today, in the afternoon,” confirmed Aleš Cimbala, spokesman for the Prague prosecutors, to Aktuálně.cz.
Šott even fulfilled his words ahead of time, which he uttered immediately after the verdict was announced. The verdict was handed down on January 9. At that time, he estimated the time to prepare the justification at three months. He has now formulated the arguments for the purge of the head of the ANO movement and his former colleague from the Ministry of Finance on 107 pages.
The justification went out on Wednesday
The judge first handed over the judgment to his office, which functions as his administrative support apparatus. The officials checked it to see if the choice of font, line spacing and other details fit according to the instructions of the Ministry of Justice. The justification was then sent by data box or forwarded to the court filing office, from where it is sent to the addressees by regular mail.
“The deadline for drafting is set jointly for the chairman of the senate and the court office, which means handing over the judgment with an official stamp and the appropriate signatures so that it is then sent to the authorized persons,” Adam Wenig, spokesman for the Municipal Court in Prague, explained to Aktuálně.cz why on Wednesday he already sent out the completed judgment on the same day.
It was received by Babiš, Nagyová and the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague, which prosecuted the case. An eight-day period for filing an appeal begins on Thursday. If no one does so, the case is legally closed and Babiš and Nagy are free for good. “Information on whether an appeal will be filed in the case or not will be available next week,” said Cimbala’s spokesperson.
Filing an appeal on the merits of the case is considered only by the responsible plaintiff Jaroslav Šaroch, whose construction was refuted by Judge Šott during the main trial. It is not clear whether he will go against his verdict. In any case, he will consult with the head of Prague prosecutors, Martin Erazím, or his deputy Daniela Smetanová. In the event of an appeal, the case will be heard by the High Court in Prague.
The launch of the company was not purposeful
The indictment from the pen of Jaroslav Šaroch stood on two legs. Babiš purposefully arranged for the company Čapí hnízdo to be removed from his Agrofert holding so that the project could apply for subsidies for small and medium-sized companies. In her request for 50 million crowns from European funds, Nagyová concealed the property and personnel connection between Čapí hnízd and Agrofert.
Andrej Babiš as a defendant in court. | Photo: Libor Fojtík
“The police collected a relatively large amount of evidence that confirmed the reasonableness of the suspicions. But this was not confirmed by any other evidence, on the contrary, several pieces of evidence were heard, which showed that it was not a purposeful creation of a company in order to obtain a subsidy,” said Judge Šott when announcing the verdict.
During the main trial, it became clear that Babiš wanted to sell the divided project. However, part of the family persuaded him that he wanted to continue it. For example, his brother-in-law Martin Herodes or daughter Adriana came to the place. In this context, the judge literally stated that “this was not one continuous project of Agrofert or Andrej Babiš”.
The connection with Agrofert did not mind the rules
The second pillar of the indictment consisted in the fact that Čapí hnízdo did not meet the conditions of a small and medium-sized enterprise due to its connection with Agrofert. However, Judge Šott pointed to the relevant European directive from 2003, which Čapí hnízdo complies with despite its close financial and personnel ties to the concern.
“According to her, a small business does not lose its position by being connected to a large holding company. But only if other conditions are met, the primary of which is operation in the same or neighboring markets,” emphasized Šott. And as evidenced in the courtroom, none of the other three holding companies under consideration operated in such markets.
The trial lasted from September 12 to January 9, taking place over 16 trial days. During them, four dozen witnesses and forensic experts spoke, hundreds of documents were also discussed, and the closing speeches of the prosecutor Šaroch, Andrej Babiš, Jana Nagyová and their lawyers were heard. Judge Šott delivered his verdict over two and a half hours.
“I’m very happy that we have an independent judiciary and the court confirmed what I claimed from the beginning. That I’m innocent and I didn’t do anything illegal,” Babiš responded to the sentencing. He also apologized for calling the proceedings before the court a political process. “The court proved that it decided on the basis of evidence, facts and laws,” said Nagyová.
How time went with the Stork’s Nest
On November 24, 2015, an anonymous author filed a criminal complaint with the High Prosecutor’s Office in Prague against an unknown perpetrator on the suspicion that there was a criminal association in the case of Čapí hnízd. On December 29, 2015, the Prague police announced that they had begun investigating the case for suspicion of subsidy fraud and financial damage of EU interests On August 10, 2017, the Chamber of Deputies received a request for the extradition of Andrej Babiš and the head of the ANO deputies, former manager of Agrofert, Jaroslav Faltýnek, on September 6, they were handed over to the police. to prosecution, MPs agreed 19 January 2018 On 3 May 2018, the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague announced that prosecutor Šaroch had stopped the prosecution of Jaroslav Faltýnek and three other people 17 April 2019, the police proposed to indict Prime Minister Babiš and five other people due to possible subsidy fraud and damage financial interests of the EU On August 30, 2019, the supervising prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch decided to stop the prosecution, including against Prime Minister Babiš. On September 13, 2019, the head of the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague, Martin Erazím, announced that he had confirmed the conclusion of his subordinate. On December 4, 2019, the chief prosecutor Pavel Zeman canceled the decision on the suspension of the criminal prosecution of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the subsidy manager of the project Jana Mayerová in the Sparrow’s Nest case as illegal and premature. On May 31, 2021, the chief investigator of the case, Pavel Nevtípil, proposed to the state attorney Jaroslav Šaroch to indict Andrej Babiš and Jana Mayerová in July 2021. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš filed a proposal to stop the criminal prosecution. On August 31, 2021, Jaroslav Šaroch returned the case file to the police for further investigation on September 20. 2021 criminal investigators handed over to the prosecutor an amended file with a proposal to file an indictment. On November 9, 2021, prosecutor Šaroch requested the re-extradition of Andrej Babiš for prosecution after his re-election as an MP. On November 30, 2021, the deadline for the delivery of the final report submitted by the plaintiff in October passed, the expert delivered it On December 6 March 3, 2022, the Chamber of Deputies issued Andrej Babiš for criminal prosecution. On March 21, 2022, the supervisory prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch charged Andrej Babiš with aiding subsidy fraud and Jana Nagyová (formerly Mayerová) with subsidy fraud and damaging the financial interests of the European Union on the 12th. On September 2022, the main trial began at the Municipal Court in Prague. On January 9, 2023, the panel of Judge Jan Šott acquitted Andrej Babiš and Jana Nagyová of the charges. On April 5, 2023, Judge Šott completed the justification of the judgment.
Source: Jan Horák
