iRozhlas: Transport Ministry partly admits to one EU audit conclusion on conflict of interest

The Ministry of Transport, which is currently reviewing one of the two preliminary EU audits that point to a conflict of interest of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, has partly admitted to one of the conclusions in the report, news site iRozhlas reports.

The specific case concerns the transfer of CZK 2 billion from the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of the Environment in 2016. The auditors claim this is one piece of evidence of the PM’s conflict of interest because the changes were made in order to support the country’s chemical industry, which is dominated by Agrofert, a company founded by Mr. Babiš. At the time the cabinet argued that the Transport Ministry’s plans were not sufficient and a potential loss of the amount of granted subsidies could be limited.

However, in an interview with Czech Radio’s Radiožurnál, Deputy Trade Minister Tomáš Čoček said that this year’s statistics prove that the concern was unfounded and the ministry’s plans were sufficient.