The High Prosecutor’s Office said the raid was related to suspicions of advantage-taking in public procurement and procurement fraud. Photo credit: Freepik.
Prague, May 17 (CTK) – The Czech Police’s organised crime squad (NCOZ) intervened yesterday at the headquarters of the Road and Motorway Directorate (RSD) in Prague and other locations, arresting seven people, said Prague High Prosecutor Lenka Bradacova.
The High Prosecutor’s Office (VSZ) said the raid was related to suspicions of advantage-taking in public procurement and procurement fraud, said prosecutor Tomas Minx in a press release.
According to reports from Lidovky.cz, more than 30 individuals and legal entities have been charged in the case.
Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) said that the crackdown did not concern the current activities of RSD or anyone in its current senior management.
“The state prosecutor of VSZ in Prague is supervising a criminal case filed by NCOZ on suspicion of criminal activity by an organised criminal group operating within the process of awarding public contracts at RSD, aimed at obtaining an advantage in the award of a public contract, in a public tender and public auction, and of fraud in the award of a public contract and a public tender,” Minx said.
Bradacova said the case involved organised criminal activity and the defendants are being prosecuted for participating in an organised criminal group. “This is a case of multiple public procurement contracts, with the implication that it was a systemic matter,” she told Czech Television.
Police arrested seven people, according to Bradacova. She said it was premature to ask whether the detainees would be remanded in custody.
Lidovky.cz, citing its source, reported that the group consisted of now-former employees of the Regional Directorate of Public Works and a group of contractors who arranged the awarding of contracts among themselves. The server reported that the contracts were for road maintenance worth CZK 300 million, and no-one from the current senior management of RSD has been charged in the case.
