The Czech Supreme Court has drawn up the text of the judgement in the European subsidies fraud case against former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The document says that the court is “convinced of the guilt” of the politician, Seznam Zprávy reports. Babiš’s party is bidding to win parliamentary elections in the autumn.
Babiš and his party mate, MEP Jana Nadeva, are accused of deliberately spinning off a company from their holding company in order to obtain a two million euro EU subsidy for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The first trial in the case took place in 2023. A lower court then acquitted the politician, but the Supreme Court overturned it and sent the case back.
The politician was acquitted again in 2024, but the prosecutor’s office filed an appeal, which the Supreme Court granted in May this year. The reasoning part of the judgement, prepared by the end of August, said that the businessmen had committed subsidy fraud and harmed the financial interests of the European Union, Czech Radio reported.
The defendants deny guilt. Pre-election polls show Babiš’s ANO party could come first in parliamentary elections scheduled for early October.
This would allow him to seek the post of prime minister again. The court, if Babiš is elected, will have to ask MPs for the fourth time for permission to prosecute him, bypassing immunity.