PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday at a press conference that he had expected the investigation against him to be reopened and asked the country's president, Milos Zeman, to not declare amnesty for him, as he considered himself to be innocent.
The investigation related to an allegedly illegal EU subsidy was reopened on Wednesday after Chief Prosecutor Pavel Zeman called the decision to close the previous investigation premature and illegal. Babis once again denied all of the allegations against him. The Czech president said in September that if the criminal case against Babis would be resumed, he did not rule out that he would give the prime minister amnesty.
"I expected that they won't let me go just like that. I'm a politician and will face it. They want to oust me from politics at all costs. But I'm happy that the criminal investigation against my wife and daughter was stopped. I intend to talk to the president now and ask him not to declare amnesty for me, because I am not guilty of anything," Babis said.
Babis was accused of illegally obtaining a European Union subsidy of $2.2 million for one of his companies in 2008. The company was part of Agrofert holding but left it to receive the subsidy, which was intended for small and medium-sized businesses, that it would have never reached as part of a big holding, and then rejoined Agroferd. In total, six defendants, including the prime minister's close relatives, were investigated. Babis claimed that the case was fabricated by his political opponents.
In September, the head of Prague's State Attorney's Office, Martin Erazim, stopped the investigation into the subsidy received by Babis' firm and agreed to recognize its justifications as reasonable.
In addition, an audit by the European Commission confirmed that Babis currently has a conflict of interest due to his former business empire. On Thursday, a special parliamentary meeting will be held in the Czech Republic, where lawmakers will discuss the audit.
The leaders of the opposition parties in a joint statement on Wednesday called on Babis to resign and stop embarrassing the republic with his issues.
