Court of Appeals to review Čapí hnízdo case on 31 August, Nagyová appeals sentence
Prague's Court of Appeals will return to the Čapí hnízdo case at the turn of August and September. MEP Jana Nagyová has appealed her three-year suspended sentence for subsidy fraud.
Court of Appeals to review Čapí hnízdo case again, hearing scheduled for two days
Prague's Court of Appeals will return to the Čapí hnízdo case on 31 August and 1 September, according to ceskenoviny.cz citing information from the court server infoSoud. The hearing will deal with MEP Jana Nagyová's (ANO) appeal against the judgment of the trial court.
In May, Prague Municipal Court imposed on Nagyová a three-year suspended sentence with a five-year probation period and a financial penalty of 500,000 crowns for subsidy fraud and damage to the financial interests of the EU. Judge Jan Šott expressed doubts about the guilt of the MEP. Nagyová reiterated her denial of guilt in her closing statement.
The trial court was deciding the case for the third time — Nagyová had previously been acquitted twice. In May, the court was bound by a previous position of the Court of Appeals, which had ordered it to find both Nagyová and ANO movement chairman and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš guilty.
Babiš, also accused in the Čapí hnízdo case, was not authorized for prosecution by parliament in early March of this year. Proceedings against him have therefore been suspended for the duration of his parliamentary mandate. Should Babiš retain his mandate in further elections, a new lower house would decide on his possible authorization.
The prosecution alleges that Babiš arranged the removal of the company Farma Čapí hnízdo from the Agrofert holding and the sale of its shares to his children and partner at the turn of 2007 and 2008. The aim was allegedly to make the company appear to meet the conditions for obtaining a fifty-million-crown subsidy intended for small and medium enterprises. According to the state prosecutor, Nagyová submitted the successful subsidy application whilst deliberately concealing information about the company's connection to Agrofert.
According to the state prosecutor, the payment of the subsidy caused a loss of 49.9 million crowns to the Regional Council of the Central Bohemia region. The company later returned the disputed subsidy. Both Babiš and Nagyová have long denied the charges.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)