The Czech Republic require the resignation of the prime minister due to accusations of fraud. The son of a politician said that he was taken to the Crimea so that he would not testify

On the anniversary of the beginning of the “velvet revolution” in Prague, a thousands of protest was held with a demand for the resignation of the country's Prime Minister Andrei Babish. About 20 thousand people passed from the Prague city to the old city with the flags of the European Union. They demanded that the departure of not only Babish, but also the President of the country Milos Zeman, who is considered an ally of the head of government.

The son of the Prime Minister accused his father of abduction

Andrei Babish is accused of the fact that in 2007 he illegally appropriated two million euros, which in 2007 the European Union allocated to support small business in the Czech Republic. The subsidy was received by the company "The nest of the aist" (čapí hnízdo), the real owner of which was Babish. To get these funds, the company was formally withdrawn from the Agrofert holding (Babish owned it) - so that it is suitable for the concept of small businesses. At the same time, the new owners of the company were his son and daughter, as well as the future wife of Monica and her brother. According to Czech journalists, the violation was confirmed by the European Fraud Commission.

Together with the Prime Minister in the case, his son, 35-year-old Andrei Babish Jr., passes in the case. Last week, he stated that he was forcibly taken to the Crimea so that he could not testify. Babish Jr. suffers from a mental disorder and lives in Switzerland with his mother. He claims that he was offered a choice - either to hold an “unforgettable vacation”, or to be in a psychiatric clinic. According to him, in addition to Crimea, he was taken to Moscow, Kaliningrad and Krivoy Rog. Babish Jr. says that he really signed some papers regarding the “Stork's Nest”, but did not realize a report in his actions.

The Czech Prime Minister rejected these accusations and stated that his son had left the Czech Republic voluntarily. He also noted that Babish Jr. was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The head of the government of the Czech Republic, along with other European Populist politicians, ranked the influence of Moscow. Nevertheless, Babish publicly condemned the accession of Crimea to Russia, and also ordered to send three Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic in solidarity with Great Britain after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia.

The Czech Parliament appointed a vote on November 23 on the issue of trust in the government of Andrei Babish.

Babish was the informant of the Czechoslovak special services, and then became a billionaire

The son of the Czechoslovak diplomat and a high -ranking party functionary, Babish spent his youth, studying and working in the West, and returned to his homeland only after the fall of the communist regime. Being a Slovak by origin, with the collapse of Czechoslovakia, he chose to stay in the Czech Republic. The Slovak court subsequently confirmed that during the years of socialism he was a secret agent of the State Security Service.

Babish is the second in the list of the richest people in the Czech Republic. He made a fortune of 3.5 billion dollars by heading the agrochemical holding Agrofert in the early 1990s. Answering the question at what means he purchased the company, Babish said that Swiss classmates helped him.

In 2011, Babish established his own political party - a “promotion of dissatisfied citizens”, and two years later he began to build a media imperial, including the two largest Czech newspapers, the most popular radio station and television channel. From 2014 to 2017, he was the first deputy prime minister and Minister of Finance of the country, which is why he repeatedly encountered accusations of a conflict of interests. Babisha, in particular, was accused of the fact that some tax decisions made by him serve as the interests of large companies, including his own, but worsen the situation of small and medium -sized businesses.

According to the results of the parliamentary elections in December 2017, President Zeman appointed Babish the head of government. The case of fraud against Babish had already been open by that time. In January 2018, at the request of law enforcement agencies, he was deprived of inviolability.

The Babish faction is the largest in the Czech parliament, but she has no majority. The first vote of distrust of his government was carried out less than a month and a half after his appointment by the prime minister. However, President Zeman left Babish at the post - in the summer a new composition of the government was formed, from which, however, two ministers have already left since then (they were accused of plagiarism of dissertations). Babish himself said that “he will never resign” due to accusations of fraud, and Czech experts also believe that he was not threatened in the near future.

Despite the series of scandals associated with Babish, he remains the most popular politician of the Czech Republic. As prevailed, in early August, hewas supported by 47% of citizens, in second place was his deputy party Yaroslav Faltinek. They were followed by the leader of the Pirate Party, Ivan Bartosh, the leader of the right -wing party of Freedom and the direct democracy of Tomio Okamur, as well as the head of the Communist Party of Wojciech Philip. If the parliamentary elections took place in the near future, the Babish party would also form the largest faction, although sociologists note a certain decline in its popularity. In early October, the Premier Party won municipal elections.

Dmitry Kartsev