Prague, May 30 (CTK) – Former Czech senator Alexandr Novak, accused of manipulations with the distribution of EU subsidies, refused to testify in this case from Germany during a video-conference with Czech detectives on Tuesday, the iRozhlas.cz server has reported.
Novak, who has German citizenship, stays in custody in Germany waiting for a court’s decision on his extradition to the Czech Republic
“Mr Novak used his right not to testify. He said he had chosen a new defense counsel and would not testify,” defence lawyer Jaroslav Ortman told the server.
The video-conference held at the Justice Ministry lasted about two hours. Some 12 defence lawyers and six investigators took part in it in the Czech Republic and Novak, his defence counsel and the local state attorney in Germany.
Czech detectives decided to use a video-conference since they could no longer wait for the German court’s decision on Novak’s extradition.
Gundula Fehns-Boer, spokeswoman for the High Land Court in Frankfurt am Main, told CTK in mid-May that the German court would not decide on Novak’s extradition before July.
The German police arrested Novak, 61, at the airport in Frankfurt on December 24, 2016 on the basis of a European arrest warrant. On January 3, he was remanded in extradition custody, which the high court prolonged in early February.
Since Novak (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) has rejected simplified proceedings on his extradition to the Czech Republic, the High Land Court in Frankfurt will deal with the admissibility of his extradition.
The fact that Novak is a German citizen is not supposed to prevent his extradition to the Czech Republic.
The German Justice Ministry says in general that the extradition of German citizens to other EU countries is admissible if certain conditions are met, including the possibility to serve a prison sentence in Germany.
Novak is among 24 people accused in the case of an extensive misuse of EU money within the Czech Regional Operational Programme (ROP) Northwest. It distributed EU subsidies in the Usti and Karlovy Vary northwestern regions.
Along with him, regional politicians, senior officials and businesspeople are accused of EU subsidies manipulations.
In the past, Novak was sentenced to four years in prison for having taken a 40-million-crown bribe. He was released in 2015 after serving a half of the sentence.
