Babis Jr says PM is trying to influence his testimony

The Prime Minister’s son Andrej Babiš Jr. turned to the police, his father Andrej Babiš (ANO) allegedly wants to meet with him. According to lawyer Babiš Jr. Vítězslav Dohnal, it could be about influencing a witness. This was stated today by the News List. The Prime Minister, together with his former adviser Jana Nagyová, is accused in a case of a 50 million subsidy for the construction of the Stork’s Nest recreational and conference complex, and his prosecution is now suspended because he was re-elected in the parliamentary elections and thus gained immunity. The prime minister of the server did not confirm the attempt to meet his son.

Babiš Jr. told the server that Babiš sent an SMS message to his mother, in which he stated that he would like to meet him. “I am convinced that this is an attempt to influence me,” Babiš Jr. told the website. According to his words, he refuses the meeting. The prime minister’s lawyer, Michael Bartončík, told the server that it was a family matter and he did not want to comment on Babiš Jr.’s opinion.

Dohnal told the server that on Monday he informed the police and public prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch about Babiš’s efforts. According to him, it is not appropriate for a witness to associate with the accused. A spokesman for the Prague Public Prosecutor’s Office, Aleš Cimbala Seznam, told the news that if the public prosecutor received a notice from a lawyer, Babiš Jr., he would deal with it.

The essence of the case is that the Stork’s Nest originally belonged to Babiš’s holding company Agrofert, but in December 2007 it was transformed into a joint-stock company with shares into owners and later received a 50 million European subsidy in the SME program, to which it would not be entitled as part of Agrofert. The shares were allegedly owned by Babiš’s children and partner. The company returned to Agrofert after a few years. Babiš and Nagy are accused by the police of damaging the financial interests of the European Union and of subsidy fraud. Both have long denied guilt.

Babiš Jr. in the Stork’s Nest case testified to the police in September. After his interrogation, he told reporters that his father had turned him into a so-called white horse and that he never wanted to be part of grant fraud. The List of Reports also stated that Babiš Jr. questioned during the interrogation that his signing of the contract for the acquisition of four shares of the Stork’s Nest Farm was authentic. Therefore, Šaroch ordered a forensic expert to verify whether the signature on the contract for the purchase of shares in Farma Čapí hnízdo was forged.

The prime minister’s son has also long argued that the prime minister had him taken to Crimea in 2017 against his will in order to prevent him from testifying in the Stork’s Nest case. Police have already postponed the case, stating, among other things, that they failed to interrogate Babiš Jr. because he had lived in Switzerland for a long time. However, the man has been in the Czech Republic since July and is speaking out against his father. The police are now re-examining the case. Prime Minister Babiš rejects his son’s claim and claims that his son suffers from schizophrenia.