Prague, March 16 (CTK) – The Czech Chamber of Deputies should not enquire into whether someone committed a tax fraud, and it is the Financial Police who should deal with possible such suspicions, President Milos Zeman said on Barrandov TV, commenting on the affair of Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO).
On Wednesday, opposition TOP 09 chairman Miroslav Kalousek initiated a debate on what he called “the tax frauds of the finance minister” in the Chamber of Deputies.
Babis did not attend the debate that focused on his controversial purchase of bonds from his own Agrofert company in 2012 and his other business deals challenged by critics.
Zeman said if he were Babis, he would consider the very headline of the debate, formulated by Kalousek, a display of impertinence.
“It [the name] would have been legitimate if there had been a suspicion of tax frauds,” Zeman said.
He said the Chamber of Deputies is neither a judge, nor a plaintiff nor investigator, and it cannot solve cases similar to this.
“The financial police…should enquire into whether a financial fraud was committed,” Zeman said.
Kalousek, if he suspects a crime, should file a criminal complaint, he said.
“Nothing like that has happened, a spectacular performance was staged, deputies prattled for long hours, leaving dozens of bills waiting untouched on the table,” Zeman said.
The Chamber of Deputies called on Babis on Wednesday to refute serious suspicions of tax frauds on his part, linked to his deals with Agrofert, by the end of April.
If Babis failed to do so, PM Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) should draw consequences in relation to him, the Chamber said in a resolution without specifying the consequences to be drawn.
Zeman said if he were Babis, he would have the affair investigated by the Financial Police.
“If someone is explaining something laboriously and often inconsistently, he may get entangled in it like a fish in a net, and it is not much credible,” Zeman said.
