Czech PEN club criticizes Babiš over his statements

The Czech centre on International PEN club criticized the statements of the billionaire and ANO party leader Andrej Babiš who said his situation was similar to that in the 1950s communist Czechoslovakia. The former finance minister spoke in reaction to the police request to lift his parliamentary immunity over the so-called Stork’s Nest affair, where a company belonging to Babiš‘ large agro-chemical group Agrofert applied for a 50 million crown European grant for work on a recreation and hotel complex. The funding was supposed to be directed towards small and medium sized companies. Representatives of the PEN club said in a statement that Mr Babiš`s statement was an insult to the victims of the Communist regime in the 1950s. They sais Mr. Babiš either disregarded historical facts or he was ignorant.

Author: Ruth Fraňková