Investigation on Corruption Case at Brno-střed Town Hall Brings Up New Name

A large corruption case around allegedly manipulated public contracts at the Brno-střed (Brno-center) Town Hall has been so far connected to Brno’s entrepreneurs and former members of the ANO movement, headed by the former deputy mayor for investment, Jiří Švachula. In total, nine people were charged in spring; with charges including participation in organized crime groups, the payment of bribes connected with public procurement, and other bribery offenses. Now, the tenth person accused is an influential ODS party politician, representative of Brno-sever district Jiří Hos, as first reported by Czech online newspaper iDnes.cz this morning.

Brno, Jul 1 (BD) – “He is accused of participating in an organized criminal group, manipulating winners of public contracts, and accepting a bribe,” said state prosecutor Radek Mezlík on Sunday as reported by Czech media website Seznam Zpravy. According to iDnes.cz and Czech TV, the tenth person accused in the corruption case was Jiří Hos.

Hos has been the Councillor of the Brno-Střed city district since 2006, and from December 2013 to March 2015, he was the Deputy Mayor of Informatics, Education, Culture and Sport, and Investment. In 2008, the politician became a co-owner of the Brno New Station Development (BNSD), a tenant of the current main station building and all the adjacent land for 40 years, “under very advantageous conditions”, according to iDnes.cz. In 2017, Hos left the BNSD company.

Police officers from the National Center Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) raided the premises of the Brno-Střed Council on the morning of March 7.

Following a number of arrests, nine people were charged overnight, with charges including participation in organized crime groups, the payment of bribes connected with public procurement, and other bribery offenses.  Brno Daily wrote about the case in previous articles, namely Nine People Charged Following Police Raid On Brno-Střed Council Offices and Four Properties Belonging To Accused Brno-Střed Councillor Secured By Police as Investigation Widens.

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