Czech ODS candidate quits race amid money laundering probe

Jana Hoňková, a candidate for the municipal council in Libežnice (Central Bohemian Region), has withdrawn her candidacy for ODS after police suspected her and her husband, Petr Hoňek, a former top manager at the General Health Insurance Company (VZP), of money laundering. According to investigators from the National Organized Crime Agency, the couple made 162 cash deposits via ATMs totaling more than 26 million crowns.

Withdrawal of candidacy

Hoňková was running as a non-party candidate in 11th place on the ODS list in Libežnice — the home village of party chairman Martin Kupka, who served as the village’s mayor for nearly 11 years and is running again this year, in fifth place on the list. “I have decided to withdraw my candidacy for the municipal council. I don’t want my public profile to become a burden for the list. At the same time, I want to publicly defend myself, but there isn’t enough time before the election to do so,” Hoňková wrote in a statement which, she said, she sent to the leader of the Libežnice ODS list, Jan Havlíček. He confirmed receiving the letter: “I consider this an adequate response to the situation.” ODS chairman Martin Kupka commented on the withdrawal briefly: “I consider this a responsible stance toward society.” Hoňková did not explain why she and her husband had gradually been depositing millions of crowns into their accounts.

26 million through ATMs

The Hoňek case is part of a wider investigation into possible corruption and the misuse of medical data at VZP. Last week police detained three people, including Petr Hoňek himself, and searched the offices of the insurance company and around ten pharmaceutical firms; all those detained were later released, and no one has yet been charged. According to the document investigators used to justify their request for home searches, since at least 2022 the Hoňeks deposited more than 26 million crowns via ATMs into their own accounts and the account of Petr Hoňek’s mother, in Ústí nad Labem, Prague and elsewhere — in installments averaging 160,000 crowns each, that is, below the threshold above which banks are legally required to check the origin of the money. “These funds did not correspond to the suspects’ taxable income,” the document states.

Dismissal from the hospital

On Thursday, the Central Bohemian Regional Council removed Petr Hoňek — former deputy director of VZP and later head of its Ústí branch — from running Příbram Hospital, a post he had held for less than a month. “If someone wants to hold public office, they must act with complete transparency and transfer money through cashless payments that can be documented. 162 deposits below the reporting limit totaling more than 26 million crowns are personally unacceptable to me,” regional governor Petra Pecková (STAN) said, explaining the reason for his removal. Health councilor Pavel Pavlík (ODS) called the suspicions “hard to understand” and noted that Hoňek had lost the regional council’s trust but could not explain anything, since he is required to stay silent at the request of the police. Petr Hoňek himself said: “I’m sorry, but this is the hospital owner’s free decision.” He declined to comment on the substance of the suspicions, citing a non-disclosure obligation, but on Tuesday published an official statement on the hospital’s website rejecting the accusations: “I am convinced that during my time with my previous employer I did nothing illegal or criminal.” Hoňek is also politically active in Libežnice, where he lives with his wife: at the last election he ran as a non-party candidate for ODS and became a member of the municipal council, where he chairs the finance committee, but he is not seeking a seat this year.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz