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Transparency is asking the ministry to review Babiš’s conflict of interest

Transparency International (TI) has filed a motion with the Ministry of Justice to review the decision of the Central Bohemian Region, according to which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is not in a conflict of interest.

Anti-corruption organizations rely on the opinion of the Attorney General (NES) Pavel Zeman, which this week explicitly called the conclusion of the regional office incorrect, but did not file a lawsuit against it because he did not find a public interest in the matter. The organization announced this in a press release on Sunday.

“Given that the NES has explicitly declared the regional decision on the Prime Minister’s misdemeanor to be defective under the Conflict of Interest Act, the administrative authorities should take into account the NSA’s allegations and revise their decision,” TI said.

She pointed out that the filing of a complaint was not a standard remedy against a final administrative decision of a regional authority and that there was no legal right to review this decision. “However, there is more than a need for administrations to correct their decisions when the public prosecutor explicitly identifies them as factually incorrect,” the organization said.

Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for YES) stated in the Czech TV program Sunday’s Questions of Václav Moravec that she assumes that the Ministry of Justice will give an interpretation to the justification of the Attorney General. “I will ask the Minister of Justice for an explanation and a statement,” she said.

Zeman did not file a lawsuit

The administrative proceedings concerned the alleged Babišova offense against the law on conflict of interest. The Prime Minister faced suspicions that he still controlled the media from the Mafra Group, which belongs to the Agrofert holding, which he invested in trust funds in 2017. Under the Conflict of Interest Act, politicians are not allowed to own a periodical.

The municipal office in Černošice, which in the first instance was competent for the case due to the prime minister’s place of residence, found a conflict of interest with Babiš and imposed a fine on him. Babiš’s lawyers appealed and the Regional Office of the Central Bohemian Region came to the conclusion that the offense did not happen and the proceedings were finally stopped.

Zeman stated this week that Babiš, on the basis of the rules of operation of trust funds, has the means at his disposal, thanks to which he actually and indirectly exercises a decisive influence in business corporations operating media. He therefore described the decision of the regional authority as incorrect. However, he did not file an action against the Central Bohemian decision, he justified it by saying that he did not find a serious public interest.

The prime minister has always denied allegations of conflict of interest. He claimed that by investing Agrofert in trust funds, he had completely lost influence over the holding company and all the companies involved.

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