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Thirteen people have been charged following Monday’s police raid at the headquarters of the General Health Insurance Company (VZP), prosecutor Miloš Klátik told the Czech News Agency. He also stated that VZP is being treated as the injured party in the case. The group is accused of violating competition rules, money laundering, and bribery. The police operation by the National Centre for Organized Crime (NCOZ) focused on IT contracts awarded by VZP.

The visiting Slovak head of state also met for talks with Czechia’s likely next prime minister, ANO leader Andrej Babiš, during which he stressed the importance of restoring close cooperation between the Czech and Slovak governments.  According to Pellegrini, he and Babiš also agreed on the need to maintain constructive collaboration within the Visegrad Group and to coordinate their countries’ positions on key European issues. Pellegrini expressed the hope that, in line with a long-standing tradition, the first foreign trip of the newly appointed Czech prime minister would lead to Slovakia.

People around the country have been paying their last respects to the late Cardinal Domink Duka who passed away early on Tuesday morning. Throughout the day believers, politicians and cultural and church dignitaries made their way to the seat of the Prague Archbishopric on Hradčanské Square in Prague to sign a condolence book and lay flowers in the late Cardinal’s memory.

The first entry was made by Prague Archbishop Jan Graubner who described Dominik Duka as a fighter who wasn’t afraid to stir debate. “He had the courage to take a stand, even at the risk of making mistakes or missing the mark,” Archbishop Jan Graubner said. He added that he is grateful to God “for all that was accomplished in this country through Cardinal Duka.”

Outside of the capital, the late Cardinal was remembered in masses with people laying flowers and lighting candles in their local church.

According to Vojtěch Mátl, head of Duka’s secretariat, the late Cardinal had expressed the wish to be laid to rest in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, where several of his predecessors are buried.

The funeral mass will take place on Saturday, November 15. Cardinal Duka will be interred in the archbishops’ crypt within the Chapel of St. Vitus. Archbishop Graubner said he expects that, on the occasion, the great bell Zikmund will ring out across Prague.

Czech national Petr Klement will become the new Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), several sources confirmed following the European Commission’s decision on Tuesday.

Klement currently serves as Deputy to the European Chief Prosecutor at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). His appointment marks the first time in history that a representative from the Czech Republic will lead the EU’s key anti-corruption body.