The "Chicken Factory" of Vodňany and the Czech Embassy in Hanoi

First part: Babiš's Vodňanská drubež grossly exploited Vietnamese workers for years

Between 2015 and 2021, several hundred workers from Vietnam worked in appalling conditions at the Agrofert campany's Vodňanská drubež. For several years they were in the factory almost non-stop, paid less than they earned, with no contracts. They were afraid to leave because of debts for Czech visas and fear of intermediaries hired by the company to act as interpreters.

They came directly from Hanoi to the poultry factories, where they were lured to work. Each of them had to pay more than 300,000 CZK for Czech visas, because the system of issuing work visas to the Czech Republic was controlled by intermediaries. The Czech state is unwilling or unable to solve the problem in the long term. 

Even the governments in which Andrej Babiš served, first as finance minister and later as prime minister, did not improve the situation. On the contrary, as the owner of the Vodňanská drubež company, he profited from the whole situation.

Second part: What was Agrofert the best at? Importing Vietnamese workers. It was controlled by the underworld

The second part focuses on the unusually high level of success in "importing" people from Vietnam to work in the Vodňanská drubež company at the time when the owner of the company, Andrej Babiš, was a member of the government.

The company managed to get the most oft its workers from Vietnam at a time when demand for labour was high, even though the number of work permits issued in the Czech Republic is officialy limited. As a result, other companies could not get workers from Vietnam. This also explains why the labour inspectorate did not find any unfair practices in the employment of Vietnamese workers at the Vodňanská drubež company.

Third part: The Czech Embassy in Hanoi is a node in the criminal network. The state has not yet delt with it

The third part of the investigation describes the long-term criminal practice of improperly charging for Czech visas in some embassies of the Czech Republic. 
It focuses mainly on the embassy in Hanoi. Andrej Babiš, as a member of the government, was informed about the exorbitant visa fees but he still decided to bring the staff from Vietnam under these conditions. He did not take any action against this criminal practice, on the contrary, as the owner of the Vodňanská drubež company he profited from it. 

© Illustration Šárka Motyčková