Prague’s Excessive Court docket has cancelled a decrease courtroom ruling that acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud fees in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies
ByThe Related Press
September 15, 2023, 6:37 AM
FILE – Presidential candidate and former Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis, gestures as he speaks to members of the media, in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Prague’s Excessive Court docket cancelled a decrease courtroom ruling that acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud fees in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies. (AP Picture/Marko Drobnjakovic, File)
The Related Press
PRAGUE — Prague’s Excessive Court docket cancelled a decrease courtroom ruling that acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud fees in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies.
The courtroom returned the case for retrial to Prague’s Municipal Court docket, in accordance data revealed in a database of courtroom paperwork on Friday.
The Excessive Court docket issued the decision a day earlier however didn’t make it instantly public.
The Babis case concerned a farm referred to as the Stork’s Nest, which obtained EU subsidies after its possession was transferred from the Babis-owned Agrofert conglomerate of round 250 firms to Babis’ relations. Later, Agrofert once more took possession of the farm.
The subsidies had been meant for medium- and small-sized companies, and Agrofert wouldn’t have been eligible for them. Agrofert later returned the subsidy.
Prague’s Municipal Court docket additionally acquitted in January his former affiliate, Jana Nagyova, who signed the subsidy request.
Babis pleaded not responsible and repeatedly mentioned the costs in opposition to him had been politically motivated.
It isn’t instantly clear when the retrial would possibly happen.
Babis, a billionaire, is at the moment within the opposition after his populist ANO centrist motion misplaced the 2021 parliamentary election. He was operating to change into the Czech president within the election for the largely ceremonial submit in January however misplaced to Petr Pavel, a retired military normal.
