Finance minister denies any wrongdoing in Stork’s Nest farm case

Finance Minister Andrej Babis who is under fire over the suspect drawing of EU funds for his Stork’s Nest farm and conference centre said on Sunday that the application for EU funds was made by a previous owner whom he refused to name. He said he would write a letter of explanation to his coalition partners providing the details. The Social Democrats had said that if Mr. Babis failed to produce a satisfactory explanation by Wednesday they would support an opposition call for an extraordinary session of Parliament to be held on the matter. According to the news site Neovlivni.cz fines of 6.0 million crowns were imposed on the farm in the past. The circumstances of EU funds awarded to the project are now being investigated by EU anti-fraud authorities. The opposition has criticized the prime minister and Mr. Babiš’ coalition partners for acting as if the problem did not concern them.