EC urging Prague to introduce reliable system to identify and prevent conflict of interest

The European Commission has once again urged the Czech government to address the fact that the Czech Republic lacks a reliable system to identify and prevent conflict of interest in the public sector. This is stated in a letter accompanying the last audit of the European Commission which concludes that the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has a conflict of interest because he continues to control his Agrofert business empire through trust funds. The Czech prime minister insists that he has no influence on the trust funds and has fully adhered to all the requirements of the Czech conflict of interest legislation. The Ministry of Regional Development received the letter from the EC’s auditors last week and has until September 8 to respond to it.