Prague, March 21 (CTK) – Czech Finance Minister Babis (ANO) says in a letter to Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) on Tuesday that the Chamber of Deputies accuses him of fraud without any evidence and wants to try him, which is a lynch.
Babis answered a letter from Sobotka that asked him to explain the source of his incomes and financial transactions.
Babis called on Sobotka to distance himself from the conduct of the lower house.
Last week, the Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution asking Babis to refute “serious” suspicions of tax evasion linked to his deals with Agrofert, a holding he previously owned, by the end of April.
By the same deadline, Babis should also credibly explain the origin of the finances, which he used to buy one-crown bonds of Agrofert in 2012, the resolution says.
The lawmakers also supported a previous conclusion by the lower house budget committee that there are suspicions that some companies and their owners might have misused or circumvented law in issuing one-crown bonds, which were not subject to tax, in 2012.
Sobotka said online on Thursday that he expected Babis to explain the transactions that had prompted a number of serious questions.
In a letter that is at CTK’s disposal, Babis writes that fraud is a criminal act on which only a court can decide.
Babis said the lawmakers had appropriated the roles of both a prosecutor and police and wanted to try him.
Sobotka should pass the investigation into the “fabricated suspicions” to the relevant bodies, he added.
“Who will decide on whether my explanation is trustworthy? It will be again the Chamber of Deputies. Figuratively, in this case I am being accused without any evidence and based on the lies by the same people who want to try me, too,” Babis wrote.
“The result seems to be clear beforehand. The Chamber of Deputies will lynch me! For it, my tax return, my property disclosure, the confirmation of my incomes by renowned auditing companies I have publicly shown are not enough,” Babis wrote.
He said some deputies were trying to inflate and prolong the case within the election campaign.
The election to the Chamber of Deputies will be held in October. ANO has a clear lead in the latest opinion polls.
Babis said he would react in written to the appeal by the Chamber of Deputies within the given deadline, by the end of April.
He said he believed that he had explained his incomes to the public.
“If you consider my not being suspected of tax fraud necessary, distance yourself from the unfair conduct of the Chamber of Deputies and let the relevant bodies check the fabricated suspicion in accordance with law,” Babis wrote to Sobotka.
Sobotka said previously that a government member “insisting on the struggle against tax evasion” should not be suspected of tax evasion by unfair or illegal practices himself.
“Babis has explained some things, but has not explained others. There is a question of whether they can be explained at all,” Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Belobradek (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said.
“It is up to law-enforcement bodies to investigate whether this was criminal conduct. However, it is up to everyone to judge whether this was immoral conduct,” Belobradek said.
