Lukáš Valášek wrote that the state-owned company Čepro has paid Agrofert over 19 billion crowns for contracts without a public tender since 2017. According to him, Čepro began to claim that it did not have to hold public tenders after the law prohibiting companies owned by politicians from obtaining public contracts came into effect. Valášek stated that the company has relied on the opinion of the then vice-chairwoman of the Office for Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), who left the office due to suspicions of manipulating decisions in favor of representatives of the ANO party, Jaroslav Faltýnek and Jiří Švachula. According to him, she signed the opinion before her departure. In preparing it, she was supposed to have used documents from the ministries led by Alena Schillerová and Karel Havlíček, which, according to Valášek, downplayed Čepro's exceptional position, even though it is captured in state strategies. According to Valášek, the government of Petr Fiala did not address the matter, and the ministries, now again under the control of Havlíček and Schillerová, do not want to reopen it based on their statements. Čepro also refused to inform him how many contracts it has already awarded to Agrofert under the new government of Andrej Babiš, despite the ÚOHS ruling that the company is subject to the information law at the request of the Pirate Party's analytical team. Valášek added that even the ÚOHS led by Petr Mlsna, whom Babiš appointed, did not see a reason for a review. According to Valášek, the Prime Minister decided whether the government would extend Mlsna's mandate for additional years. https://t.co/O1ekCFdPwn #Česko #politika #korupce (translated)
