Former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Andrej Babiš continues to be investigated by French authorities on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, according to several Czech media outlets.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), a French agency that handles major economic and financial crimes, is looking into the circumstances under which ANO party leader and aspiring Czech president acquired a villa in the south of France through a chain of offshore companies based in Monaco and the British Virgin Islands.
Babiš claims the purchase was legal and has consistently claimed that this investigation is nonsense. In the only televised debate he participated in before the first round of presidential elections (13 and 14 January), Babiš said he was unaware of the investigation and that no one had contacted him.
He also talked about the fact that only the “left-wing” newspaper Le Monde had written about it, suggesting that it was a lie and a fabrication by the media.
The prosecutor’s office was contacted by journalists from Hospodářské noviny, Deník N and also Seznam Zprávy.
“The investigation is continuing, although at this stage there have been no interviews or summonses,” the PNF said when explicitly asked by Seznam Zprávy whether presidential candidate Babiš had been contacted by investigators.
The French prosecutor’s office has confirmed that the case, which was opened on February 2022, deals with Babiš’s involvement in the so-called Pandora Papers. These are leaked documents which show that a number of influential people, including prime ministers and presidents from various countries around the world, hide their assets behind shell companies in tax havens.
Babiš also had problems with the law in the Czech Republic. Just before the first round of elections, however, the court said he was innocent in the case of illegally obtaining EU subsidies.
Ahead of the second round of the presidential election (27 and 28 January), estimates favour his opponent, former General Petr Pavel, to become the new head of state.
Babiš is not willing to accept that, however, and has begun to use a harsh rhetoric, for example accusing his opponent of wanting to drag the Czech Republic into war.
(Ondřej Plevák | EURACTIV.cz)
Source: euractiv.com
