2024-03-24 13:24:53
On Thursday, the court imposed a fine of 200,000 crowns on Moravian-Silesian Governor Jan Krkošek (ANO) in a 12-year-old case of bribery of doctors by pharmaceutical companies. He found him guilty of participating in an organized criminal group, for which the perpetrator can be punished with up to ten years in prison. The governor subsequently resigned from his position and at the same time gave up the position of representative.
The court took into account the time that had passed since the criminal activity, Krkošek’s confession and his current way of life. The judgment is not final, both parties kept the deadline for filing an appeal.
After the meeting, the governor said that he will now discuss his situation with coalition partners and fellow parties. The chairman of the ANO movement, Andrej Babiš, declared that Krkoška must end both in the ANO movement and in his position, vice-chairman Karel Havlíček said that the ANO leadership would immediately convene the presidency to Krkoška’s expulsion from the movement. Shortly afterwards, the press spokeswoman for the region announced that the governor had resigned from his post and at the same time was giving up the position of representative. The governor himself then stated in a statement to the media that he would also withdraw from the ANO movement.
Regional chairman: Fall to whom you fall
Even before the announcement of the governor’s resignation, ANO regional chairman Josef Bělica said that there is a process in place in the movement that will be followed. “I spoke with Mr. Governor last night and he is ready to resign from the position of Governor. I don’t know the details of that court, but of course we will resolve it relatively quickly within the movement as we always do. I will meet with my colleagues from the representative club, I will meet with the coalition partners and we will solve the situation in a matter of days,” he noted. Regarding Babiš’s demand for Krkoška’s departure from the post and the ANO movement, he said that the movement has relatively strict rules. “We’ve just always judged it on a case-by-case basis,” he added.
From 2009 to 2012, Krkoška worked at the company Interchemia Praha, from where, according to the indictment, bribes were directed to doctors. They were supposed to preferentially prescribe drugs from specific pharmaceutical companies. In total, approximately 12 million crowns worth of bribes were handed over. Originally, 200 people were prosecuted in the case, including 151 doctors.
According to the indictment, Krkoška handed over 800,000 crowns through subordinate representatives. He confessed to the crime in court on Thursday. The prosecutor first proposed imposing a suspended sentence on him, after admitting guilt he reduced the proposal to a fine of at least 250,000 crowns.
According to the chairman of the senate, Milan Rossi, the governor knew how the system worked in the company and knew all the connections. “However, since then he has shown empathy, social feeling and a sense of justice in his way of life,” said the judge. Therefore, according to him, the court had no reason to impose a higher sentence.
Krkoška has been a representative of the Moravian-Silesian Region since 2016. He replaced Ivo Vondrák (elected for ANO) as governor last June. In a written statement to the media, Krkoška previously said that the trial has nothing to do with his current involvement in politics.