A few weeks ago, the Attorney General refused to file an administrative lawsuit against the decision of the Central Bohemian Office, according to which Andrej Babiš does not control the media from the Agrofert holding. Although the head of the plaintiffs described the fundamental denial of the conflict of interests from the office of President Jaroslava Pokorná Jermanová (ANO) as incorrect, he did not want to challenge it in court.
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He commented that “this action would not be in the public interest.” In this way, Pavel Zeman surprised a large part of the public, which saw in him a guarantee of the independence of the judiciary. Especially after he resumed Babiš’s criminal prosecution at the time stopped in December in the case of subsidy fraud in the Stork’s Nest case.
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I am not afraid of the powerful. I do not care
His answers to the List of Reports questions contain a very probable explanation of what the Attorney General is preparing and what will most likely be a larger case than an administrative action against a decision of the Office.
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Here we offer you a literal transcript of this part:
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Once you have confirmed in your opinion that Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has a conflict of interest, how will you continue to work with this information? Because the Czech government is even filing an international lawsuit against the European Commission in this matter, claiming that the prime minister is not in conflict of interest. The dispute affects whether or not billions in subsidies will be paid. And what will you do? Will you keep quiet and say it’s not in the public interest?
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From the point of view of administrative law, the matter is closed.
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Do you have another view on this?
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There may be some other views on this, but believe me, I am bound there by secrecy.
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I will mention one thing here, because it is public: When the European Commission completed the audit proposal on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s conflict of interest, you said last spring that the findings were serious and could raise suspicions of crime. Do you remember that?
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President Zeman said at the time that you wanted to be visible, Prime Minister Babiš said that you did not respect the rules of a proper and fair trial. The prosecutor’s office then performed an audit analysis – and we never learned her conclusion again. Can you tell us today what the conclusion of the analysis is?
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I can’t. I am bound by the duty of secrecy.
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Does this mean that there is any proceedings in this matter that we must not be informed of?
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It means I can’t tell you anything about that. Yet.
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It’s been a year since those conclusions were written. When will you be able to tell us?
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Let’s say when there is a moment from which the next step in the matter will emerge. I can’t give you a more specific answer. I am sorry.
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If you have closed the analysis and it is in a closed proceeding, then the next step may be to conduct an investigation and this may end in a charge. Is it at stake that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will bring the Prime Minister to justice on the basis of this investigation?
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Take it so that I will not comment on it at this time.
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The audience sent us questions to you and wrote, among other things: „What does Babiš have for him? ”“ A newsagent or an envelope with a bullet? ”Or that you let them down—“ he had a purchase. Did they buy you?
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They didn’t buy, not really.
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What will you say to people who have stopped understanding and perhaps believing you?
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I will tell them one thing: I always judge the parameters of fundamental rights and freedoms, and the basis that must work in every state governed by the rule of law is the equality of the citizen before the law. I think that even with what I have done in the past, I have proved that I am not afraid of the powerful, that I do not care at all. Whether it is any previous investigation, whether it is my refused visit to the President or whether it is last year, when I continued to prosecute Andrej Babiš. In this respect, there is nothing left but to really believe that the way I am doing it, I am doing it right.
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I translated your statement for myself so that the administrative lawsuit was not worth it, because something much bigger will come…
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Don’t you want me to comment?
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Ten years in office? I’m less scared
In the next part of the interview, the Attorney General Pavel Zeman also talks about the right time to resign. In January 2021, it will be ten years since he became chief prosecutor. At the same time, it depends on whether the government will tolerate it or not. The Minister of Justice has the right to submit a motion to the government to dismiss it, without giving a reason.
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“To put it bluntly: being in office for the tenth year plays a role in being more seasoned and less afraid,” says Pavel Zeman in an interview.
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Asked if he was thinking of leaving, he said: “Ten years is a long time. But I don’t want to think about leaving. Rather, I am aware that I will soon be fifty and that it is illusory to think that I will stay in my chair until seventy. Every normal person has to think that sometimes it’s time for a change. “
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Here you will find the entire record of the interview, in which the head of the prosecutors talks, among other things, about the renewed prosecution of Andrej Babiš in the Stork’s Nest case and, in the end, about his proposals for changes in criminal rates for some crimes:
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Attorney General Pavel Zeman in an interview about conflicts of interest, penalties and considerations about the end of his career. (Video: News List)
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