page_title: Andrej Babiš
section_title: Conflicts of interest
hierarchical_section_title: Andrej Babiš / Controversies / Conflicts of interest
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Ing. Andrej Babiš - Grafické zobrazení vztahů osob a firem, konec roku 2013
context_page_description: Andrej Babiš is a Czech politician serving as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic since December 2017 and the founding leader of ANO 2011 since 2012. He previously served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017. Prior to entering politics, he was a businessman.
  Born in Bratislava in present-day Slovakia, Babiš moved to the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution. During a lengthy business career, he rose to become the second richest man in the Czech Republic, with an estimated net worth of about $4.04 billion according to Bloomberg. Much of this wealth came from his time as CEO and owner of the Agrofert Group, which owns two of the largest Czech newspapers, Mladá fronta DNES and Lidové noviny.
  Babiš entered politics in 2012, forming ANO 2011. Despite being a new party, ANO 2011 performed strongly at the 2013 election, finishing just three seats behind winners ČSSD. He was duly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. In May 2017, Sobotka sacked Babiš following a crisis triggered by allegations that Babiš avoided paying taxes when CEO of Agrofert.
context_section_description: Babis has been criticized by media and opposition politicians for his alleged conflict of interest, as the Minister of Finance and the owner of companies subsidized by EU funding programmes. During a visit to the Czech Republic in March 2014, the German Member of the European Parliament Ingeborg Gräßle expressed concern that someone with such a personal financial interest simultaneously being a leading representative of a state, could not guarantee to the EU that its resources are properly distributed. A 2014 article in the political newspaper Politico commented that "the Czech Republic is now a paradox: a society disgusted with corruption has given huge power to a man whose business interests amount to the biggest conflict of interest in the country’s post-1989 history."
  In May 2015, Babis's alleged financial irregularities and accusations from the public and the opposition that he had promoted his companies in government procurements triggered a vote of no confidence against the Bohuslav Sobotka's government, called by the opposition parties ODS, TOP 09, and Dawn. The motion was defeated by 47–105.
  A preliminary version of the EU audit reached 22 findings, with a recommendation to take action to repay EU funds totalling 17.49 million Euros."European Commission Draft Audit Report". Retrieved 2 July 2019.. The audit concluded that Babiš had a conflict of interest by taking part in decisions about the allocation of EU funds.
caption: Connections between companies in the AGROFERT portfolio
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