Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis yesterday stepped up criticism of a European Commission audit into his possible conflicts of interest, calling the auditors incompetent and demanding a meeting with the head of the commission executive.
His response came after an estimated 120,000 protesters took to Prague’s streets on Tuesday evening to demand Babis’ resignation, one of the biggest protests since the Velvet Revolution ended Communist rule in 1989.
“We will not act like it is normal that the prime minister of our country remains ... in such a conflict of interest that his personal problems damage the whole country,” organizer Mikulas Minar told protesters from a stage in Wenceslas Square just below the imposing 19th-century National Museum. “We are asking for the resignation of Andrej Babis.”
Photo: AFP
“We no longer want to tolerate that Babis is robbing us,” said Jana Tomesova, a financial adviser who traveled from the town of Pisek, about 110km south of Prague.
Demonstrators began weekly protests against Babis at the end of April, angry over a criminal investigation into alleged subsidy fraud a decade ago, and his ties to the agricultural and media conglomerate he built.
Babis’ alleged conflicts led to a European Commission audit that leaked to media last week.
In preliminary findings, the audit determined that his Agrofert group should not have had access to EU development funds in recent years because of conflicts of interest.
Czech authorities must comment on the audit before it is completed, but it raises the possibility the Czech government will need to return EU funds.
Babis has denied the audit’s findings, telling lawmakers on Tuesday that it was an attack on the Czech Republic and its interests, and saying no funds would be returned.
He told reporters yesterday that he wanted to meet commission President Jean-Claude Juncker during the two-day EU summit that opens on June 20.
“I will of course ask Mr Juncker how it is possible he has such incompetent auditors, because their behavior was scandalous,” he said.
He was informed that two Czech auditors treated some state authorities “in a position of bullying,” he said without giving further details.
Babis placed his Agrofert holdings in trusts in 2017 before becoming prime minister.
The leaked audit said the shift to trusts was not enough separation from his executive power, because he was both the founder and beneficiary of the funds.
Babis, the second richest Czech with US$3.7 billion in assets according to Forbes magazine, is also battling a Czech police investigation into whether he illegally received a 2 million euro (US$2.26 million at the current exchange rate) EU subsidy a decade ago for a farm and convention center, by hiding ownership of it.
Police have recommended prosecutors take Babis, who denies wrongdoing, to trial.
The protesters said that a new justice minister, who was appointed when her predecessor resigned the day after police finished their investigation, might meddle in the case.
Separately, the head of the Greens party in the European Parliament on Tuesday urged European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager to investigate allegations that the Czech Republic was providing illegal subsidies to companies linked to Babis.
In a letter seen by reporters, the Greens said they feared Agrofert might have received more than 10 million euros in subsidies from the Prague government, which “might lead to a distortion of competition in the EU single market.”
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