News

The Czech competition office has imposed a 300,000 crown fine on the country’s telecoms regulator, according to a report by the news server Ekonomický denik.

The fine, on the state authority which among other tasks should ensure fair competition in the telecoms sector, is for failing to hold an open tender for software services. And the Czech competition office says it warned in advance that the Czech Telecommunication Office risked breaking the law.

The telecoms office can still appeal against the fine.

Czech police say they have shelved an investigation into a hacking attack on the website of the national statistical office as it updated results from parliamentary elections last October.

The attack caused the website of the Czech Statistical Office to collapse. The office said the results of counting for elections to the lower house of parliament were not affected.

Police, according to the news website of Czech Radio, were not able to identify where the attack originated. The statistical office said that it had stepped up its security measures following the attack.

The grants authority for Central Bohemia has called for a subsidiary of the Agrofert company to voluntary return the EU funds given in the so-called Stork’s Nest affair. The request was made public on Thursday. The request has been sent to the Imoba company, which originally received the funds.

ANO leader and prime minister Andrej Babiš faces criminal proceedings for fraud for the 50 million euros received for the hotel and recreation centre. The EU funds should have been directed to small and medium sized companies and not a massive agro-chemical group the size of Babiš’ Agrofert.

A nerve agent such as Novichok was neither produced nor stored in the Czech Republic, according to conclusions reached by the lower house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

The conclusions were communicated by defense minister Karla Šlechtová after attending the committee session on Thursday. It was also attended by the head of the civil intelligence service and by the head of the authority for nuclear security, which is also responsible for oversight of chemical weapons.

Confusion about whether the Czech Republic has produced the type of nerve agent used in the attack on a British-based Russian double agent was sparked by Czech president Miloš Zeman. He said last week that a report by military intelligence suggested a small amount of the nerve agent had been produced for testing before being destroyed.

The prime minister and defence and foreign ministers have disagreed with Zeman’s interpretation of the report. Some of the arguments have centred on semantic interpretations of what ‘produced’ actually meant.