Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) has agreed to dissolve the trust fund into which he previously placed his business interests in the Agrofert group, following a recommendation from the fund trustees. He said in a statement to CTK yesterday that nothing prevents him from holding the shares, as it is not in conflict with his role as an MP.
Babis, leader of the opposition ANO, is not returning to the management of Agrofert, nor will he hold any other managerial position.
Babis also said that he would run in the parliamentary elections next year in the Moravia-Silesia Region. In the 2021 general election, he led the ANO candidate list in Usti nad Labem. “In case of our success, I will, of course, resolve everything in accordance with the laws of the Czech Republic, as has always been the case,” he added.
In February 2017, Babis placed his shares in his companies Agrofert and SynBiol in trust funds to meet the amended conflict of interest law.
He placed 90% of the shares of Agrofert holding and all the shares of SynBiol group in the fund called the AB private trust I. At the time, Babis appointed his long-time manager Zbynek Prusa, also a director of Agrofert, as a trustee. He then parked the remaining 10% of the holding in a fund called the AB private trust II, which was managed by Agrofert’s chief lawyer Alexej Bilek.
“Based on the recommendations of the fund trustees, I have agreed to dissolve the trust fund,” Babis said yesterday. “I have decided to take advantage of this and arrange things for the future with regard to my family, in case something happens to me.”
Agrofert spokesman Pavel Hermansky said that Babis had been issued with roughly 90% of Agrofert’s shares and 100% of SynBiol’s shares from the AB private trust I. “Nothing has changed in the functioning of the Agrofert concern,” he added.
According to Babis, there is no legal obstacle preventing him from holding the shares, nor does it conflict with his position as an MP. “I am not returning to the management of the Agrofert concern and I will not be in any managerial position,” he stressed, adding that his priority is clearly a success in the 2025 parliamentary elections.
ODS deputy group head Marek Benda told CTK that Babis’s step indicated that he may not expect to return to power after next year’s elections. “I assume that this means he does not expect to return to the executive and will continue to manage his property,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny, leader of the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), told CTK that he did not want to comment on Babis’s personal and family circumstances, but said that whatever legal form Babis chose with regard to Agrofert, the conflict of interest was obvious. Vyborny did not deny that Babis is legally allowed to hold the shares, but at the same time, this suggested that he had in fact controlled the concern until now. He added that one way to solve Babis’s issues with conflict of interest was for the Spolu coalition (ODS, KDU-CSL, TOP 09) to defeat him in the parliamentary elections.
Chamber of Deputies Speaker and TOP 09 leader Marketa Pekarova Adamova also said it was clear that Babis had controlled Agrofert through a trust fund.
“Andrej Babis previously controlled Agrofert through a trust fund, which was also pointed out by the European Commission. The dissolution of the trust fund does not change anything substantial and Babis remains in an actual conflict of interest. This is a problem,” Pekarova Adamova wrote to CTK.
The parliamentary leader of the opposition Pirates, Jakub Michalek, said Babis’s actions were all an unnecessary charade because it was obvious that Babis controlled Agrofert anyway. “It has confirmed what we as the Pirates have been saying all the time that Babis has full power over the funds and can change anything at any time,” he said.
Michalek also said he considered it essential that the government stopped blocking the tightening of the law on conflict of interest. “The stricter law advocated by the Pirates would ensure that no member of the government would receive state contracts through their companies. Last time, this draft was swept from the table by the economy committee in the lower house led by ODS.”
“It could be a positive step for the Czech legal culture if this move by Babis puts an end to the ‘non-ownership game’ that everyone was able to see through and was essentially a Potemkin village,” Datarun analyst Petr Barton told CTK. In his opinion, a real separation of financial and political power would have to be secured by a different formulation of the law, which Babis may or may not rewrite in the next government.
In the 2021 general elections, the Spolu coalition won with 27.8% of the vote, followed by ANO with 27.1%. The Pirates and Mayors and Independents (STAN), who ran together as PirSTAN, received 15.6% of the vote and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) won 9.6%. No other parties passed the threshold for representation in the Chamber of Deputies. Spolu and PirSTAN formed a five-party government coalition, which the Pirates recently left.
According to statements by leading ANO officials, Karel Havlicek, ANO deputy chair, Chamber of Deputies deputy speaker and former minister of industry and trade and of transport, will lead the ANO candidate list in Prague next year.
