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President Zeman challenges Lex Babiš at Constitutional Court

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Prague, Feb 14 (CTK) – President Milos Zeman challenged the conflict of interest law, dubbed Lex Babis, which curtails the access of the firms owned by government members to some form of state support, at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek has told journalists.

Zeman is of the view that the legislation is at variance with the constitution because it violates the constitutional ban on discrimination on the basis of property, Ovcacek said.

Zeman believes that the legislation conflicts with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms that anchors the same protection of ownership rights to all owners, he added.

It also contradicts international conventions that ban discrimination on the basis of property and position in the case of all rights set down by law, which includes the right to seek public procurement, Ovcacek said.

Zeman wants the Constitutional Court (US) to cancel the three most controversial clauses of the law. They ban the government members from owning the media.

Zeman said in his complaint that the impact of the legislation was disproportionate given its intended objective, which is the abuse of the media by a person holding a public post.

When it comes to the clauses banning the firms owned by government members from access to public procurement, Zeman said the ministers did not have any chance of influencing the granting of these forms of subsidies, due to which they could not be in the conflict of interest.

He said the law also punished other shareholders in the companies in which a government member owns 25 percent.

Zeman said the clause could cause the firms owned by government members to fold.

US spokeswoman Miroslava Sedlackova has told CTK Zeman’s complaint has not yet reached the court.

The average time by which the US judges finish their decisions was about ten months in 2016.

The law took effect last week. It bans the business companies, in which ministers own a 40 percent stake at least, from access to public procurement, discretionary subsidies and incentives.

It also bans government members from operating radio and television broadcasting and publishing periodicals.

The Chamber of Deputies passed the law despite Zeman’s veto. Zeman said earlier he would file the complaint with the Constitutional Court (US).

The law is dubbed lex Babis because it would primarily affect the business of Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO).

Until early February, Babis owned the 100 percent share in the Agrofert holding, the biggest Czech agricultural company, employing 34,000 people. It is a major recipient of state subsidies.

The Agrofert Holding includes the Mafra publisher issuing national daily newspapers Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) and Lidove noviny (LN). Besides, Babis owns the Impuls radio station and Ocko television.

Babis, 62, is one of the richest Czechs. Last October, the Forbes magazine put his property’s value at 70 billion crowns and said Babis was the second richest businessman after PPF investment group owner Petr Kellner (255 billion) in the Czech Republic.

The Euro weekly, too, said Babis is the second richest, but it estimated the value of his property at up to 120 billion crowns.

Due to the law, Babis has transferred Agrofert and SynBiol, another company of his, to trust funds.

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