More trouble ahead for beleaguered Babis

Outgoing Czechia prime minister Andrej Babis appears set to face criminal charges after rival party leaders confirmed their MPs will vote to lift his parliamentary immunity.  Prague prosecutor’s office made the request – which Babis called a “bespoke criminal prosecution” – after he was defeated at the polls last month.

Since founding popular political party ANO, billionaire Babis has faced numerous corruption allegations, and was named in the recent Pandora Papers leak. He may now face an indictment in connection with holding company Agrokert, a part of which temporarily changed its name and ownership structure and accepted a EUR 2 million subsidy from the EU. As the Agrokert offshoot Stock Nest Farm was allegedly still under Babis’s control, Czechia’s outgoing premier may now face conflict of interest charges.

This will be the third time that MPs have lifted Babis’s immunity since 2017. The prosecutor opted to suspend the previous proceedings, to the chagrin of Czech police, who now say they have new witness statements, including one from Babis’s son.