Czech Republic Andrej Babis, the Czech Trump
The Czechs hold legislative elections today and tomorrow with no anticipated changes in the current government's configuration.
Nobody expects that the polls will collect the
disappointment or punishment
of a prime minister who aspires to re-election from the top positions of the so-called "Pandora papers."
The leader of the Alliance of Discontented Citizens (ANO),
Andrej Babis,
the richest man in the country, leads the polls with 28.2 percent support, well ahead of other parties.
The responsibility, when it belongs to many, is difficult to exempt because it becomes part of normality and in the "Pandora's Papers" appear, in addition to Babis,
300 Czech citizens.
According to the Czech server investigace.cz, which participated in an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Babis, founder of the Agrofert group,
has moved more than 16 million euros
through offshore companies, with which subsequently acquired real estate on the French Riviera, including the Château de Bigaud in Mougins (France), near Cannes. The property was acquired in 2009 through shell companies based in Washington and the Virgin Islands.
The castle has more than 40,000 square meters
and is surrounded by medieval estates. In addition to that property, Babis acquired seven other estates just a few kilometers from the castle in the same way. Among them, a two-story villa with a pool and a garage.
Babis has not denied those properties, but he has acted illegally. For him, his appearance in these "papers" is an
attempt to slander
and influence the parliamentary elections that are held this Friday and Saturday. Nothing, then, makes Babis fear that his party will back down from the 2017 elections and lose the ability to form a new government coalition. On that occasion, Babis went to the polls with an electoral program similar to that of the American
Donald Trump.
He promised to end corruption and tax evasion. "Trump said: 'Let's make America great again.' That's what I say too. Let's make the Czech Republic strong again," he repeated.
Babis, however, did not include this offshore corporate structure or the properties
in the equity declarations that he has to present for his public position
, according to the Investigace.cz investigation. The media, however, were already suspicious of the politically ambitious millionaire. Shortly before the 2017 elections, local media discovered that the secret owner of the most important luxury resort in the country, south of Prafa, was the Agrofet consortium, the same one that was allegedly making illicit use of aid to the countryside. from Brussels.
The Czech prime minister, who has been approached on several occasions by reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has declined to answer questions.
On one occasion,
one of his bodyguards elbowed one of the journalists
who asked him about this issue.
Babis, according to all the forecasts, will rise with the victory,
although he will not be able to rule alone
.
The reissue of the current coalition will depend on the results of its coalition partner, the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), which, with a 4.6% projection in the polls, could be left out of Parliament.
Behind ANO are the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party, with 13%, the Pirate Party (10.6%) and the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS,) with 10.3%.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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