Another two arrested over use of EU funds

Usti nad Labem, North Bohemia, July 8 (CTK) - The district court in Usti nad Labem has remanded in custody another two men against whom charges were brought over fraudulent drawing of EU subsidies in the Czech Northwest region on Tuesday, deputy regional state attorney Lenka Bradacova told CTK yesterday.

Another two defendants will be prosecuted at liberty as the state attorney's office did not propose to take them into custody, Bradacova said.

The Northwest Regional Operational Programme (ROP) could distribute a total of 19 billion crowns of the EU money. Contracts for projects worth 16 billion have already been signed.

The drawing of EU finances was halted this year after several cases of suspected abuse of EU funds connected with the regional offices surfaced.

On Tuesday, the police arrested three persons linked with ROP Northwest, its former director Petr Kusnierz and another two former ROP Northwest senior officials.

Along with them, the police detained a representative of the Cascade hotel in Most, North Bohemia, who applied for a subsidy of 16 million crowns.

Kusnierz already spent almost one year in custody between March 2011 and early March 2012 in another bribery case.

($1=20.321 crowns)