Brno, May 20 (CTK) – Czech businessman David Rusnak, whom the police detained and questioned in the case of leaks of information from police databases and criminal proceedings, will end his membership of the ANO movement of Andrej Babis as from today, he has said in a statement for CTK.
“In view of the connections into which this matter is put on the political scene and how my family is being attacked, I have decided to terminate my membership of the political movement ANO 2011, of which I have never been an active member, as from today,” Rusnak, majority owner of the DRFG investment group, wrote.
He added that it is true that he helped ANO’s Brno cell with a non-financial gift in 2014. As from then on, he has only focused on his work, he wrote.
“This police investigation is not connected with the business of the DRFG investment group in any way. The functioning of the group and its particular parts is by no means affected or threatened,” Rusnak wrote.
He confirmed that the police detained him, but he was released after questioning.
The High State Attorney’s Office in Olomouc, north Moravia, in cooperation with the National Drug Centre is investigating an extensive case of leaks of information from political databases and criminal proceedings.
The investigation also concerns elite police and businesspeople.
According to available information, one of the 20 prosecuted people is Michal Ratajsky, former police of the Squad for Uncovering Organised Crime (UOOZ), Miroslav Palan, former officer of the General Inspection of Security Corps (GIBS), and Rusnak.
Rusnak is an ANO rank and file member, his wife is a Brno City counciller, and Deputy Finance Minister Alena Schillerova is his mother-in-law.
A couple of days ago, ANO proposed Schillerova for finance minister, but Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democarts, CSSD) rejected the nomination.
Babis has ordered the South Moravia organisation of ANO to return the sponsorship gift it received from Rusnak and proposed that he be expelled from the movement.
Brno Mayor Petr Vokral (ANO), however, wants to propose that Rusnak’s ANO membership be only suspended pending the solution of the case.
He said he would also consider returning the gift only if Rusnak’s guilt were possibly proved. He said he honours the presumption of innocence.
The DRFG investment group was established in Brno in 2011. It aims at appreciating the capital through investments in property stakes in prospective companies and projects, particularly, real estate, telecommunications, and heat and power production.
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