Agrofert company says immigrant death truck was not one of theirs

An abandoned truck in which Austrian police believe up to 50 immigrants might have suffocated to death bore the name of a Slovak company which belongs to Agrofert, the Czech flagship company of ANO leader and minister of finance Andrej Babiš. But Agrofert bosses in the Czech Republic have said that the Hyza chicken lorry was not theirs but was sold in 2013 or 2014. All their six lorries were accounted for and they do not deliver in Austria, they said. The lorry was found on a layby not far from the Slovak and Hungarian borders after being spotted by the Austrian highway authorities. Police originally said on Thursday that between 20 and 50 immigrants could have died. The Hyza company dropped an ill timed advertising spot bear a stop migrants image from its web page Thursday. The migrants in this case apparently referring to cut price chicken imports.

Author: Chris Johnstone