Criminal prosecution has also been launched against two companies. Photo credit: TMA / Brno Daily.
Brno, Oct 21 (CTK) – The Brno Municipal Court yesterday remanded in custody all the seven individuals prosecuted over the privatisation of municipal flats in Brno, activities of a municipal company and subsidy fraud, public prosecutor Petra Lastovecka told journalists after the end of court proceedings.
Criminal prosecution has also been launched against two companies. Lastovecka said some of those prosecuted appealed the decision immediately. She did not give the names of the individuals concerned.
One of the defence lawyers said his client was businessman Michal Horky. The server iRozhlas.cz previously reported that the police consider him to be the head of a six-member organised crime group.
The police raid in Brno took place on Tuesday. Three of those arrested were later released. Lastovecka said this week’s raid was more demanding than the police intervention two weeks ago.
The police recently intervened in Brno in another case of municipal flats related to the Brno-Stred Town Hall, charging eight people. Two of them were remanded in custody – flat commission chairman Otakar Bradac (ODS) and real estate agency executive Zdenek Cervinka.
Lastovecka said the police questioned 30 people in this week’s actions, and searched 28 houses and other premises. “It was complicated to organise two such demanding operations, however, coordination between the police and the public prosecutor’s office was excellent. It seems to me that it can be said that the operation was very successful,” she said.
Detectives searched the housing office at Brno City Hall, the town halls of the Brno-North and Brno-Cernovice municipalities, and the Cernovice sand quarry, questioning its executive Jiri Hason (KDU-CSL). They also contacted Brno former deputy mayor Petr Hladik (KDU-CSL), who has been nominated for environment minister, and visited his office.
A new city council was elected in Brno yesterday, after the local elections in September. Hladik is no longer a member of Brno City Council. He repeatedly said yesterday that he had neither been accused nor arrested.
Czech media reported that the criminal investigation has two branches. The first is an attempt to take control of the Piskovna Cernovice sand quarry municipal company, in which the police are examining the activities of Horky. In the second branch, Horky and his criminal group are suspected of fraudulently taking over residential buildings and flats via bribes and then selling them at a profit.
