Olbramovice, Central Bohemia, July 29 (CTK) – Billionaire Andrej Babis, leader of the ANO movement and former Czech finance minister, married his long-term partner Monika at his farm Capi hnizdo (Stork Nest) on Saturday.
Andrej and Monika have been living together for 23 years. They have two children, Vivien and Frederik. Monika is 20 years younger than her husband.
The marriage took place three months before the general election, after which Babis seems likely to become prime minister. Opinion polls show that his party is the clear favourite, having a double-digit lead over its rivals.
Babis, 62, also has two adult children from his previous marriage.
About 200 guests attended the outdoor wedding ceremony on Saturday. The two witnesses were their old friends.
Both before and after the wedding ceremony, a convoy of vehicles with loudspeakers drove by the Stork Nest compound and played recordings of people criticising Babis. Babis told journalists that these people would not spoil the day.
Monika, who organised the wedding, said previously her wedding ring has diamonds, while Andrej’s is not embellished in any way. She said they do not plan any honeymoon but a family holiday instead.
The planned wedding was announced in April.
Monika has been using Babis’s surname even before the wedding.
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Czech police have been investigating Babis over a EU subsidy that the Stork Nest won in the late 2000s. Babis is suspected of giving up the ownership of the countryside resort only formally in order to be granted the subsidy, though it in fact remained part of the Agrofert holding.
Until February, Babis owned the giant chemical, agriculture, food, wood-processing and media holding Agrofert, but he transferred it to two trust funds in February to comply with a new conflict of interest law.
Each of the trust funds has a three-member supervisory board, with Monika Babisova being a member of both.
