The Prague Metropolitan Court today imposed a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of CZK 500,000 on ANO MEP Jana Nagyova, a former aide to current Prime Minister and ANO leader Andrej Babis, for subsidy fraud and harming the financial interests of the European Union.
The verdict in the Capi hnizdo (Stork Nest) case is not final, and an appeal may be filed with the High Court in Prague. The Prague Metropolitan Court had previously acquitted both Nagyova and Babis twice, but the Prague High Court annulled both verdicts on appeal. In its latest ruling from last June, the High Court also ordered the lower-level court to find the defendants guilty on the basis of the evidence presented.
In the reasoning for today’s decision, judge Jan Sott reiterated that the Metropolitan Court is bound by the opinion of the appeals court. “We remain convinced that the defendant Jana Nagyova should not be convicted,” he said.
Babis has been prosecuted within the case as well, but earlier this year, the Czech parliament rejected a motion to lift his parliamentary immunity to enable his criminal prosecution.
In her closing statement, Nagyova again denied the charges and excused herself from the announcement of the verdict.
Babis wrote on social media that the verdict against Nagyova was a politically motivated decision. He claimed that the case had “one goal: to thwart my political career after I refused to steal alongside the mafia that has controlled our state.” He criticised former prosecutor general Pavel Zeman, former justice minister Pavel Blazek, the political opposition, and the ruling of the Prague High Court.
Judge Jan Sott said today that the Metropolitan Court is not authorised to assess how convincingly the appeals court justified its conclusions or how thoroughly it examined the evidence. He noted that it was clear from previous decisions of the court’s panel that it disagrees with the conclusions of the Prague High Court, but must respect the ruling of the higher court.
“We remain convinced that the defendant Jana Nagyova should not be convicted, that there are reasonable doubts as to her guilt, and that a guilty verdict would violate the principle of the presumption of innocence,” Sott said. According to the judge, further prolonging the proceedings would not be appropriate given that the High Court has already reached a clear conclusion on the question of guilt. He added that the defendant has the option of filing extraordinary appeals in the future, which would be decided by the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court.
Babis and his former adviser Nagyova were charged over a CZK 50 million subsidy for the Capi Hnizdo farm and conference centre in Central Bohemia.
The prosecution claims that Babis arranged for the Capi Hnizdo company to be spun out of his huge Agrofert holding and the shares to be sold to his children and partner at the end of 2007 and in early 2008. According to the prosecutor, Babis did so in order for the company to appear to meet the conditions for receiving subsidies for small and medium-sized enterprises, while Nagyova successfully applied for the subsidy. According to the prosecutor, she deliberately withheld information about the company’s ties to Agrofert.
The company later returned the controversial subsidy.
Babis and Nagyova have long denied guilt. Nagyova’s defence lawyer Josef Bartoncik said today that the ruling was an attack on the democratic rule of law, and that he considers the High Court’s decision to be unconstitutional.
Due to the lower house of parliament’s recent decision not to extradite Babis for criminal prosecution, criminal proceedings against him cannot now continue. If Babis were to win a seat in the next parliamentary elections, the decision on whether to extradite him would be made again by the lower house in its new composition.
