Minister lashes back at Agrofert after company calls on government to end its criticism

In response to an Agrofert open letter calling on the government to ensure a level playing field for businesses and stop its unsubstantiated slander towards the company, Regional Development Minister Ivan Bartoš lashed back on Wednesday.

Mr Bartoš said that he understands that Andrej Babiš may not like that he cannot “milk the state for money” and bully competitors and small-time entrepreneurs any more.  Mr Bartoš made the statement when speaking to news site Seznam Zprávy ahead of a government meeting to discuss its next steps in response to the European Commission audit that reported Andrej Babiš was in a conflict of interest while he was still prime minister.

Mr Babiš is the founder of Agrofert, a multibillion dollar food and chemicals holding, but placed the company into trust funds ahead of becoming prime minister as part of the conflict of interest law that was passed in 2017. However, auditors from the European Commission claim that this move did not in fact remove his ability to influence the business.

Seznam Zprávy reported on Wednesday that the government is considering a variety of steps on how to proceed further. One of them counts on the possibility of demanding the return of all the subsidies that were provided to Agrofert during the period that the conflict of interest law was in place. This would amount to CZK 4.5 billion.