Police prosecute three more people in Brno housing case

Police are prosecuting three more people in the case of manipulation of the allocation of flats in Brno, according to Seznam Zprávy.cz. According to the server, the three are accused of bribing a group to manipulate the allocation of city flats in Brno for them. The National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ) conducted a large-scale raid in Brno last October, charging eight people, including former chair of the housing commission of the Brno-střed district and ODS politician Otakar Bradáč.

According to the server, the police are now focusing on those who investigators say were clients of a network of politicians and businessmen who, according to the charges, bent the handling of city property in exchange for bribes. "In connection with suspected criminal activity in the allocation of flats in Brno, three other persons are being prosecuted in two separate criminal cases," Radek Bartoš, deputy of the Olomouc High State Prosecutor's Office, which is overseeing the case, confirmed to the server.

Two of the new defendants face up to six years in prison if convicted of bribery, while another faces punishment for inciting corruption.

The case involving Bradáč concerns the allocation of municipal flats in Brno-West. The police intervention took place at the beginning of last October, after which police charged eight people, two of whom ended up in custody. Both are now out of custody. In the second half of October, police officers intervened in Brno for the second time, at the housing department of the municipality, at the Brno-sever, Brno-Černovice town halls, at the Černovice sandpit and at the office of the then outgoing deputy mayor and now environment minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL). Police then charged seven people, who subsequently ended up in custody, and two companies. Hladik was not charged. All seven accused are now out of custody.

Source: Seznam Zprávy and CTK