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As the video footage obtained by Seznam Zprávy shows, the police came directly to Chomutov mayor Marek Hrabáč from the ANO movement in the morning. The police intervention, which has been taking place since morning in the Ústecký, Karlovy Vary, Central Bohemian and Moravian-Silesian regions, is related to the influence of public contracts. Police have not yet charged anyone.
“House searches and searches of other premises are currently underway. Criminal activity concerns public contracts, taxes and also corrupt practices,” deputy regional prosecutor Kateřina Doušová told Seznam Zprávám. “I can confirm that Mayor Chomutova is among those detained,” she added.
Detention of Chomutov Mayor Marek Hrabáč (ANO). Video: News List
Hrabáč is the leader of the ANO candidate for the autumn regional elections in the Ústí Region.
“I don’t know anything about it yet, but if Mr. Hrabáč is among the accused because he should have committed something illegal in his position, the movement will deal with it immediately and vigorously,” Babiš told ČTK. “I will never suffer anything like that in the YES movement,” he added.
Intervention in companies as well
According to information from Seznam Zpráv, another detainee is businessman Ladislav Šmucr. His construction company Rocknet is also suspected of criminal activity. “Yes, I can confirm this name and company as well,” Doušová told Seznam Zprávy.
According to the deputy mayor of Chomutov, Milan Märc, the Chomutov municipality has been closed since morning and the police are not letting anyone in. “We have no information about the intervention. We can’t go in,” said First Deputy Mayor Märc.
The police have already detained 13 people from various regions, especially in Ústecký and Karlovy Vary. According to Doušová, criminal activity concerns not only natural persons, but also companies. So police officers intervene not only in official buildings in the Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions, but also in company headquarters.
One of the places they look at is Hrabáč’s office in the building of the Ústí Governorate. The detained politician works there as a councilor for transport and road management. This was confirmed by Seznam Zprávám, Deputy Governor of Ústí, Jiří Řehák.
The next official building where the criminal investigators arrived is the municipality of Karlovy Vary. “The police approached us asking us to cooperate with the investigation, and we are providing it. I don’t have any more information,” said Jan Kopál, spokesman for the Karlovy Vary municipality.
According to Seznam Zpráv information, the police were interested in councilor Petr Bursík (ODS), who is in charge of transport and the environment. “He is not among the detainees because he is on a planned vacation,” said Deputy Regional State Attorney Kateřina Doušová.
Councilor Bursík himself only briefly communicated via SMS from vacation. “I am outside the Czech Republic. I have very little information. I was not contacted by the police,” wrote Bursík, who also confirmed that in the past he worked as a business director at Rocknet s.r.o., whose owner Ladislav Šmucr is among the detainees.
Last fall, Petr Bursík was indicted along with 11 other people in the case of manipulation of public contracts of the CzechTourism agency. The ODS defended him at the time, saying that the matter concerns a subsidy for a leisure sports event and is not connected to the performance of Bursík’s elected office as a representative of Karlovy Vary. Despite the indictment, the civil democrat remained in charge of the town hall.
Ladislav Šmucra’s company Rocknet and at the same time his other company Reo Group also received orders from the Administration and Maintenance of Roads of the Ústí Region in the past. The deputy director Lenka Holovská confirmed that the police were in the regional organization and that the director Libor Tačner has an unavailable phone.
The investigators are also interested in one contract, which the company Rocknet competed for with the road administration in the neighboring Karlovy Vary region. “The police came and wanted documentation for the Smolná peca contract,” Jiří Šlachta, director of the Karlovy Vary Administration and Road Maintenance, told Seznam Zprávám.
The contract concerns the rehabilitation of the rock massif above the road, and the register of contracts shows a total of three contracts worth 3.5 million crowns for this repair. They were signed directly by the director of Šlachta. He claims that the police did not question him and that he is not aware of anything suspicious in connection with this job.
The construction company Rocknet from Jirkov also won contracts in the Chomutov zoo. Detectives made a search there today as well. Director Věra Fryčová has an unavailable phone all day.
