Babis Jr testifies for six hours in Stork's Nest case

The son of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš today testified to the police for more than six hours in the case of a 50 million subsidy for the construction of the Stork’s Nest farm. Andrej Babiš Jr., who was also originally charged in the case and whose prosecution was later stopped, told reporters that his father had made him a so-called white horse and that he never wanted to be part of the subsidy fraud. In the Stork’s Nest case, the Prime Minister and his former adviser Jana Nagyová (formerly Mayerová) are now accused of damaging the financial interests of the European Union and of subsidy fraud, both of whom deny guilt.

“I feel good about it. I’m glad that I was finally able to testify today in the Stork’s Nest case, in which my father made me a white horse. I want to emphasize that I never wanted to be part of the grant fraud,” Babiš Jr. told reporters in front of the building. Prague police in Kongresova street. He did not want to answer further questions.

Defenders of Babiš and Nagy, Michael and Josef Bartončík, also attended the interrogation of Babiš Jr. today. Michael Bartončík told reporters that he could not comment on the circumstances of the interrogation, however, he stated that he was not surprised by Babiš Jr.’s statement with regard to his previous media statements.

The Čapí hnízdo farm originally belonged to the Prime Minister’s holding Agrofert. In December 2007, it was transformed into a joint-stock company with bearer shares and later received a European grant in the SME program, to which it would not be entitled as part of Agrofert. The shares were owned by Babiš’s children and partner. Babiš Jr. has previously stated that the farm was a project of his father from the beginning.

The company returned to Agrofert after a few years. In 2017, Babiš holding invested in its trust funds.

Police in the Stork’s Nest case in May proposed that the Prime Minister also charge Nagy, but the supervising public prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch returned the case for further investigation at the end of August, mainly so that the investigators could supplement the interrogation of witnesses. Šaroch set a deadline for completing the evidence until 17 September.

Babiš Jr. has also long claimed that the Prime Minister had him taken to the Crimea in 2017 against his will, precisely in order to prevent him from testifying in the Stork’s Nest grant case. Babiš rejects his son’s claim and claims that his son suffers from schizophrenia. In connection with his trip to Crimea, Babiš Jr. testified to the police last week.

In the Stork’s Nest case, 11 people were originally charged, including Andrej Babiš Jr. and other members of Babiš’s family. Sharoch gradually stopped prosecuting all the accused. However, in December 2019, former Chief Prosecutor Pavel Zeman resumed the prosecution of Prime Minister Babiš and Nagy after a review. At the same time, he confirmed that the persecution of Babiš’s loved ones was definitely over.

The prosecution of Babiš Jr., whose case was excluded from the main branch because the police could not hear the man, was finally stopped last February. The prime minister’s son lived in Switzerland at the time. He has been in the Czech Republic since July this year and is speaking publicly against his father.

Last week, according to the iROZHLAS.cz server , other of the previously accused testified to the police about the Stork’s Nest, for example . According to the daily Právo, criminal investigators interrogated the former manager of Farma Čapí hnízdo on Wednesday, who, according to the Seznam Zprávy website, reported to the plaintiffs in the summer, saying that he had not told the investigators the full truth in earlier interrogations in 2017 and 2018 and wants to supplement his statement.