The Czech Supreme Court in Prague has affirmed the conditional sentence handed to member of the European Parliament Jana Nagyová (Ano) for her role in the closely watched Stork’s Nest EU subsidy fraud case.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is also on trial in the €2mn Stork's Nest subsidy fraud case, but the Czech Chamber of Deputies turned down the request to strip Babiš of parliamentary immunity this March. Nagyová appealed the earlier ruling in which she was handed three years in prison with a five year probation period and a fine of CZK0.5mn (€20,729).

Nagyová denies wrongdoing, which her lawyer Josef Bartončík reiterated during the August 31 hearing which turned down Nagyová’s appeal. “In the name of my client I state that she still feels innocent. In my opinion her guilt was not proven and cannot be proved,” was quoted as saying by Czech Television (CT) and other Czech media on August 31.

Nagyová’s part of the trial continued after the parliament, in which the Ano-led populist coalition wields a comfortable majority of 108, refused to strip Babiš of his parliamentary immunity, halting the Babiš part of the trial for as long as he holds the immunity, CT noted.

In the same vote, the ruling coalition, which Babiš formed with far right SPD and anti-green and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves parties, also turned down the request to strip SPD leader Tomio Okamura of immunity in connection with SPD's racist anti-immigration campaign.

Babiš has repeatedly described the case as a political witch hunt against him and even cast doubt on the impartiality of the country’s judiciary in the past.

Last June, the Czech Supreme Court in Prague cancelled the acquittal of billionaire PM Babiš and his ex-manager Nagyová in the trial. Prior to that in April 2023 Czech state prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch appealed against the January 2023 court decision, which acquitted Babiš and Nagyová of fraud charges and was followed by another acquittal in 2023.

In the Stork’s Nest case, Babiš and Nagyová are accused of concealing the conference centre’s ties to Babiš’s large food, chemical and agricultural conglomerate Agrofert in order to claim an EU subsidy designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Anti-corruption NGOs such as Transparency International have been ringing alarm bells about the case since Babiš entered politics in the national elections in 2013.

The centre had originally been owned by Agrofert but was then transferred to a new company, owned by Babiš's family members, with his estranged son testifying that he was never the owner and his signature was most likely forged. Previous rulings accepted that the signature of Babiš's son was probably forged but said this had no bearing on Babiš's guilt or otherwise over the subsidy.

UK bank HSBC also provided a loan to this new, unknown company because of its links to Agrofert, and Agrofert advertised heavily at the conference centre. In 2015 Babiš was even caught on camera boasting that Stork’s Nest was his idea and was one of his best projects.