Prague, March 9 (CTK) – Agrofert, owned by Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO), dismissed yesterday the information that it has been fined six million crowns for a mistake in drawing a subsidy for the Capi hnizdo (The Stork’s Nest) conference centre.
In a press release it wrote that Agrofert had nothing in common with the Farma Capi hnizdo firm when the fine was imposed.
The information on the unauthorised subsidy drawing was issued by the Neovlivni.cz server yesterday.
“First, we want to stress that Agrofert company had nothing in common with Farma Capi hnizdo at the stated time. It is a misleading interpretation having the sole purpose – to attract readers,” Agrofert wrote.
Neovlivni.cz wrote yesterday about two audits that uncovered an unauthorised drawing of European subsidies for building the Capi hnizdo centre.
The server wrote about two audits from 2011 and 2013. According to the first audit, the firm drew the subsidy before the invoices for its construction were paid, which was at variance with the rules since the subsidies should be paid out retroactively.
The other audit, worked out by KPMG for the Finance Ministry, confirmed this stance. It calculated a fine of 3.6 million crowns. The final sum amounted to six million, including penalties.
Agrofert confirmed that the 2011 audit exposed a belated payment of an invoice for Capi hnizdo and proposed a fine.
“In 2009, an administrative mistake was made in the Capi hnizdo project, in which an invoice for construction works was paid to the supplier with a delay,” Agrofert said.
It added that Agrofert was forgiven 99 percent of the fine based on a request.
Agrofert said similar problems in drawing EU subsidies are not uncommon and that the media have inflated the situation.
“The media’s effort to turn an administrative mistake into a scandal at any cost is startling, but at the same time, it clearly shows that the case has one sole purpose – to tarnish the name of Agrofert firm,” the firm said.
Neovlivni.cz found out previously that Farma Capi hnizdo was part of Babis’s Agrofert Holding until 2008. To secure a subsidy, its shares were transferred to bearer shares. After years, during which it had to observe the subsidy conditions, the firm returned to Babis’s concern.
Babis told CTK yesterday that he knows nothing about the case. He rejected any mistake in granting subsidies in Saturday¨s issue of daily Lidove noviny (LN), which is part of the holding.
“The subsidy for Farma Capi hnizdo was repeatedly controlled by authorities without any wrongdoing having been uncovered. It is absurd that some calls for me to admit a mistake, which I did not make and which I could not make, are now addressed to me,” Babis said.
($1=24.541 crowns)
