Prague, May 26 (CTK) – The auditor’s report that the Czech Finance Ministry wrote in 2016 on the Stork Nest (Capi hnizdo) luxurious farm complex of billionaire and former finance minister Andrej Babis (ANO) was released on an anonymous Twitter account on Friday.
In the past few weeks, this Twitter account released audio recordings of Babis talking to a journalist, which indicated that Babis used the media he owned against his political rivals. On May 24, Babis left the government due to the recordings, a suspected tax evasion and unclear financial transactions.
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has been checking the controversial 50-million-crown subsidy drawn for the building of the Stork Nest.
The farm belonged to Babis’s Agrofert Holding until 2007. Afterwards, its stake was transferred to bearer shares for a small firm to reach the EU subsidy that a firm of the huge Agrofert Holding could never get. It observed this condition for five years, which is a period required by the EU, but later it returned to Agrofert Holding. Babis said one year ago that the bearer shares of the farm were owned by his adult children and his brother-in-law when it received the EU subsidy.
The Finance Ministry report posted on the Internet on Friday concludes that the connection between the Stork Nest and Agrofert at the time when the subsidy was drawn can be neither proved nor refuted.
The auditors said they were not able to tell whether the farm was an independent small or medium-sized business when it applied for the subsidy.
All the other signs of the interconnection between Agrofert and Stork Nest have been proved, the auditors wrote, mentioning family ties, business relations, economic connections and access to financial markets without problems typical of small and medium-sized businesses.
The suspicion is even higher because the auditors did not obtain the list of the persons who attended the Stork Nest’s general meetings from 2008 to 2010, they wrote.
It is the European Commission that will issue the final verdict on the case, the auditors added.
In February, Babis transferred his firms to trust funds to comply with a new conflict of interest law.
The Imoba company, which operates the Stork Nest and which is a part of the trust funds administering Babis’s property, said the auditors could neither refute nor confirm the Agrofert-Stork Nest link because they did not complete their work.
Imoba said the auditor’s report concluded that the conditions for drawing the subsidy, such as the expenditures of the project and the applicant’s experience in tourism, were met.
Apart from OLAF, the Czech police have been investigating the case over a suspected subsidy fraud.
The Stork Nest farm near Olbramovice, central Bohemia, is advertised as a place for conferences and corporate events. It offers a hotel, restaurant and wellness programmes.
Last Saturday, Babis had a farewell party with the Finance Ministry employees at the farm. In July, Babis and his long-term partner Monika will get married there.
