Daily news summary

Families forced to leave homes to petition Constitutional Court

A housing cooperative whose members have been ordered to vacate their homes near Prague are planning to make a complaint to the Constitutional Court next week. On Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled that the administrator had the right to dispose of the properties of around 60 families who were one-time clients of the collapsed building firm H-System.

On Monday cooperative representatives will take part in a meeting with the administrator where Prime Minister Andrej Babiš intends to act as a mediator.

The families say they will not leave their apartments, which they themselves completed after H-System went bust.

Lawyer says Social Democrats got cash from bust developers

Lawyer Hana Marvanová says some of the money from a collapsed 1990s building firm now in the news went to the Social Democrats, who were then led by the current president, Miloš Zeman. In an interview for DVTV, the lawyer said the head of H-System, Petr Smetka, had delivered suitcases of cash to the headquarters of the Social Democrats.

Ms. Marvanová represented clients of the H-System who lost money when the company collapsed. This week a group of victims of Mr. Smetka’s asset-stripping of the company were told they would have to leave their homes after a court ruled the administrator could sell the properties.

A spokesperson for the Social Democrats told iDnes.cz that there was no basis for Ms. Marvanová’s groundless accusations.

President Zeman is among one of many Czech politicians to have criticised the court ruling against the former H-System clients.

Press: Babiš’s Agrofert receives record subsidies

The Agrofert Group started by now Prime Minister Andrej Babiš received a record CZK 2.1 billion in subsidies last year, Hospodářské noviny reported on Thursday. In the same period the conglomerate paid CZK 739 million in income tax, the newspaper said.

Agrofert was still owned by Mr. Babiš at the start of 2017. In February last year he placed his shares in a trust fund to avoid a conflict of interest in view of his involvement in politics.

Agrofert obtained the highest single amount of investment subsidies in Germany, where last year it received around CZK 290 million for the construction of a large bakery.

Hundreds of dead fish found in Moravian river

Hundreds of dead fish have been found in the river Rokytná in Moravský Krumlov in the Znojmo area in Moravia, a local official told the Czech News Agency. According to a preliminary analysis the fish died due to a lack of oxygen in a one-kilometre stretch of the river beneath the local chateau.

The recent hot and dry weather in the Czech Republic is posing a serious danger to aquatic species. Water levels in rivers around the country have fallen and the situation is particularly acute in minor rivers and streams.

Czech Radio rejects listener's “pornography” complaint

Czech Radio denies any wrongdoing after a listener complained about hearing “pornography” on its Vltava station. The listener called on Facebook for control bodies to investigate how she and her children had come to hear references to the male member in a Saturday morning broadcast.

A member of the Czech Radio Council said the head of Vltava would be called to explain the broadcast, Czech Television reported.

For their part, Vltava said the text was not lewd but had come from The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, a book which had received the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

Čech to fight for place at Arsenal under new boss Emery

The Czech soccer goalkeeper Petr Čech says he intends to stay at his English club Arsenal. There has been speculation that the 36-year-old could leave the Emirates Stadium after Arsenal signed the young German goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

However, the Plzeň-born player says he plans to show new manager Unai Emery that he ought to be in the starting line-up when the season gets underway next month.

Weather forecast

Friday should be mainly sunny with the chance of storms in the Czech Republic, with temperatures of up to 29 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is expected for the following week.