For more than a year, there has been a case in Brussels involving Agrofert holding subsidies, which, as a result, may cost the Czech taxpayers millions. Brussels officials are also in the process of resolving a sensitive issue as to whether they will go after the country’s prime minister. The decision is to be announced soon.
At the beginning of this year, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) issued a report which was extremely unfavorable for PM Andrej Babiš in a case linked to drawing subsidies for the construction of the recreation area and farm, Čapí hnízdo.
Last year, the Czech Republic received a twenty-two million CZK fine because of Jaroslav Faltýnek’s conflict of interests. Faltýnek sat in the supervisory board of the fund, which distributed the subsidy. At the same time, he was in the management of Agrofert and the agricultural committee of the Chamber of Deputies. And the subsidy recipient was, among others, Agrofert holding, which Andrej Babiš put into a trust fund.
The Czech Republic has been seeking a settlement for the fine since last summer. “It is perceived as a highly sensitive matter. This is precisely because it concerns the prime minister of a member state. Moreover, the prime minister, whose subsidy was marked as a fraud by OLAF just a few months ago. The decision is about to come, it is only a matter of political context,” said a Brussels source familiar with the case.
Officially, the European Commission has not commented on the deadline for issuing a verdict yet. However, a settlement does not have to mark an end of the case. The Czech Republic is ready to continue with further legal proceedings if its arguments were not successful. The defense of the Czech Republic is based on a claim that Faltýnek, despite his “triple role” could not influence the subsidies at all.
