Prague, May 5 (CTK) – The draft amendment to the conflict of interest law, which would restrict the running of business by ministers, might be passed by the Czech Chamber of Deputies by the summer, PM Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said in the Chamber on Thursday in reaction to an opposition deputy’s question.
TOP 09 deputy Martin Plisek voiced apprehension that there is no political will to pass the bill before the next general election due in 2017.
The bill’s provision that binds ministers to restrict their businesses was previously proposed by CSSD deputy Jan Chvojka and supported by the Chamber’s constitutional and legal committee.
It bans members of the cabinet from controlling business companies, or having at least a 40 percent stake in them. A minister would have to leave their company within two months after becoming a minister.
If a minister violated the ban, they would lose their right to vote in the company and their share in its profit, and the company would lose its access to state subsidies, the bill says.
The bill has been strongly opposed by the ANO movement of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babis. According to ANO, the bill is aimed against Babis as the owner of the giant Agrofert food, chemical and media holding.
In March, the ANO leadership called the CSSD-initiated bill a violation of the coalition agreement.
The three-party government coalition, which also includes the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), has not reached consensus on the bill, which observers and the media nickname as “Lex Babis,” though its advocates want it to apply to the members of the next government only.
Another provision of Chvojka’s bill bans ministers from owning media such as television and radio broadcasters and periodical press, and sets sanctions for the ban’s violation.
