Prague, July 28 (CTK) – The Czech police have shelved a legal complaint filed by government ANO head and ex-finance minister Andrej Babis due to the leaks of recordings of his meetings with a journalist since they have not reveled any criminal activity in this case, Czech Television (CT) reported on Friday.
“Criminal proceedings were not launched in this case definitively. The matter is actually closed. The fact that someone is recorded without his consent does not constitute criminal liability,” CT quotes state attorney Martin Cerny as saying.
Babis filed a legal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for violating the rights of another person in May when the government crisis culminated. Babis said then he had a substantiated suspicion of having been spied on and bugged for years.
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats (CSSD) proposed the dismissal of Babis from the cabinet of the CSSD, ANO and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) on suspicion of tax evasions and influencing the media. Babis denied any wrongdoing and refused to leave the cabinet, but later he accepted the resignation. President Milos Zeman hesitated to dismiss Babis, but he did so on May 24 eventually.
The police were dealing with the recordings of the meetings between Babis and Marek Pribil, former journalist from the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) that Babis owned then. They appeared in early May on an anonymous Twitter account the name of which, Julius Suman, refers to former communist secret police (StB) officer who allegedly won Babis over for cooperation under the previous regime, which both deny.
In the recordings, Babis and Pribil discuss, for instance, prepared articles about his political rivals and the most suitable time for releasing such compromising material.
Further recordings emerged later in which they debated the police investigation into some cases.
MfD along with Lidove noviny daily and other media outlets belong to the Mafra company. It is part of the Agrofert holding, which billionaire businessman Babis owned until February when he transferred it to trust funds to comply with an amended conflict of interest law.
Mafra said in the past it considered the audio recordings dubious and sacked Pribil.
A lower house commission was established to investigate information leaks from police files, including the case of the recorded Babis-Pribil meetings.
