Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Avoids Charges in Fraud Case
Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Babis Avoids Fraud Charges
(Bloomberg) --
A Prague prosecutor decided against charging Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in a fraud case, a major step toward clearing the biggest political risk for the billionaire leader.
If unchallenged by the prosecutor’s bosses, the move would be a U-turn in the investigation of the legality of a 50 million-koruna ($2 million) European Union subsidy to one of Babis’s former companies more than a decade ago, before he became a politician.
The premier has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing as the four-year probe triggered the biggest anti-government protests since 1989. The allegations forced Babis into a minority government as most mainstream parties refused to cooperate with him.
The prosecutor supervising the probe, in which the police recommended Babis face trial, has submitted his final decision that shows he’s “changed his original legal opinion,” his office said in a statement. The motion will now be reviewed by the chief Prague prosecutor.
While authorities said they won’t comment further until the review is over, Prague prosecutor’s spokesman, Ales Cimbala, told public television that a formal decision hasn’t been issued and the case hasn’t been officially shelved “at this point.” He didn’t answer phone calls seeking comment.
Babis also faces European Commission scrutiny over a potential conflict of interest.
These probes have been the biggest challenge for the second-richest Czech, whose party still leads in opinion polls by a wide margin, helped by a boost in state spending on pensions, public wages and investment.
After he dominated the 2017 elections, Babis formed a minority coalition with the Social Democrats. The government has ruled with tacit parliamentary backing from the Communist Party.
The prime minister said he hasn’t received any official information about the prosecutors’ latest steps and repeated that he and his family had been wrongly accused. Czech largest opposition parties urged the prosecutor to explain his decision, adding this doesn’t change their stance to shun cooperation with Babis because the allegations of his conflict of interest persist.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Laca in Prague at placa@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley
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