Prague State Attorney’s Office halts fraud investigation involving Czech PM and his family

The Prague State Attorney’s Office has halted a four-year-long investigation into suspected fraud by the country's prime minister, Andrej Babiš, and members of his family.

Andrej Babiš was suspected of having illegally acquired EU subsidies to the tune of 2 million euros by changing the status of his Stork’s Nest farm and conference centre. The subsidies were intended to support small and medium-sized businesses, while the Stork’s Nest farm was originally part of Andrej Babis’s multi-billion crown business empire Agrofert.

Chief State Attorney Martin Erazim justified the decision to halt the investigation by saying that at the time of receiving the subsidy the Stork’s Nest centre fulfilled the respective conditions to meet the grant.

The decision may still be reversed by the country’s Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman.

He thus upheld an earlier decision by lower-instance State Attorney Jaroslav Šaroch who made a U-turn on the case and proposed halting the investigation two weeks ago.