Three people have pleaded guilty to subsidy and procurement fraud as part of an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zlín, Czech Republic, into suspected manipulation of a government contract for the National History Museum in Olomouc.
One of the defendants also pleaded guilty to charges of passive corruption and money laundering. The charges are presented against the former director of the museum and two of its employees.
The alleged damage amounts to about 540,000 euros (CZK 13.5 million). The charges relate to the project “Virtual Museum in Education – Use of New Digital Technologies in Connecting Formal and Informal Education”, funded by the European Structural and Investment Fund under the Operational Programme for Research, Development and Education and granted by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
At least 14 members of the team allegedly working on the project did not fulfil any of the project’s activities. Two former employees of the museum are accused of unreasonably favouring a particular supplier during the public contracting procedure for the project.
To compensate for the damage caused to the EU budget, the National Centre for Combating Organised Crime of the Czech Police (Národní centrála proti organizovanému zločinu – NCOZ), on behalf of EPPO, seized assets and real estate worth €600,000 (CZK 15 million) previously obtained during this investigation.
The defendants signed an agreement on guilt and punishment (plea agreement), which was submitted today to the Ostrava Regional Court for approval. All three pleaded guilty and agreed to a sentence of three years’ imprisonment suspended for five years. They will have to reimburse the remaining amount of damages during the probation period and pay a fine of €20,000 (CZK 500,000) each. If the agreement is approved by the court, they will also be banned from applying for subsidies for 10 years.
