Former Czech Prime Minister and election frontrunner Andrej Babiš is in legal jeopardy once again after Prague’s High Court on Monday overturned an earlier ruling clearing him of wrongdoing in a €2 million EU subsidy fraud.
The case now returns to the same Prague district court that in February 2024 acquitted Babiš and his former advisor and current Patriots for Europe MEP Jana Nagyová of fiddling ownership documents so the former leader’s agriculture holding qualified for the subsidy. The High Court said the lower court had not evaluated the evidence properly.
The reversal comes only months before Czech parliamentary elections with Babiš, leader of the opposition right-wing populist ANO party, the frontrunner on 31 percent support. The ruling Spolu (Together) coalition — which recently survived a no-confidence vote sparked by a bitcoin scandal involving a drug dealer — lags behind on 20 percent.
Government politicians have already called on to Babiš to withdraw from the elections.
Both Babiš and Nagyová have pleaded not guilty on numerous occasions, claiming the case is politically motivated.
The ruling marks yet another chapter in a case known as Čapí Hnízdo (Stork’s Nest) dating back to 2015. The alleged fraud involved EU subsidies provided to the 31-room Stork’s Nest recreational and conference center in central Czechia, part of Babiš’ Agrofert conglomerate, one of the largest companies in the Czech Republic.
Babiš and Nagyová are suspected of manipulating the center’s ownership to satisfy EU grant conditions related to small and medium-sized businesses. After the facility received around €2 million in EU subsidies, Agrofert resumed its ownership.
The Stork’s Nest case has been investigated by both Czech police and the EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) for years. OLAF concluded its investigation in December 2017, saying it had found irregularities in the subsidies provided.
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