Final Word from Monday, January 8, 2018

Based on the information available, there's reason to believe that the Stork's Nest subsidy wasn't in order and constituted a violation of Czech and EU rules. Likewise, there's reason to believe that Andrej Babiš's political enemies took advantage of this situation to create a scandal where there otherwise wouldn't have been one if Babiš hadn't entered politics. The next logical question is, Who are these enemies? Babiš wasn't charged until Oct. 2017, but he told Právo on Sat. that the "chief godfather" of then-PM Bohuslav Sobotka was already going around Prague in 2016 saying that he (Babiš) would be charged. This can only be interpreted to mean lawyer Radek Pokorný. This, too, is believable, given ČSSD's control over the police. Where Babiš enters a grey area is when he suggests that OLAF is part of the conspiracy against him. Are people related to ČSSD able to influence the actions of OLAF, or is Babiš merely creating a smokescreen? This is now a question for Brussels. [Czech Republic anti-fraud office European Commission Union]