Former Storks’ Nest manager testifies against PM in fraud case

A former manager of the Stork’s Nest farm and conference center has now stepped forward to testify against Prime Minister Andrej Babiš who is suspected of having wrongfully acquired a 50 million crown EU grant for the center  intended for small and medium sized businesses by temporarily transferring ownership to his wife and children. The center was part of the prime minister’s multi-billion crown conglomerate Agrofert and was later brought back to the fold. According to the news site Novinky.cz, Tomáš Rak, a former manager at the center, told the police Mr. Babiš had regularly visited the center at the time and acted as its rightful owner.

In a related development, Andrej Babiš Jr., the son and namesake of the Czech prime minister, was questioned by police on Thursday about his alleged abduction to Crimea in 2017. He claims that his father had him taken to the Ukrainian peninsula against his will in order to prevent him from testifying about the alleged EU subsidy fraud by his father.