Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Prague: Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on Monday rejected a proposal by coalition partner ANO to replace Finance Minister Andrej Babis with his current deputy, extending a crisis in the centre-left coalition before an election due in October.
Sobotka has requested that Babis, a billionaire businessman and founder of the anti-establishment ANO movement, leave due to questions about his past tax dealings. Babis denies any wrongdoing but has said he would accept his sacking if there is an agreement on his replacement. Sobotka said on Monday Babis's pick, his current Deputy Minister Alena Schillerova, was too close to Babis.
This posed a problem in relation to the need to look into Babis's taxes, Sobotka said.
"I asked ANO to bring another proposal," Sobotka told reporters after meeting Babis.
"I do not have confidence that Ms. Schillerova would be able to guarantee a truly intensive, thorough performance of financial administration and the ministry on (Babis's tax operations)."
Sobotka has raised questions about whether Babis may have broken the law by buying tax-exempt bonds from what was then his company, Agrofert, in previous years.
Babis has called the scandal a political ploy by Sobotka, whose Social Democrats trail in popularity behind ANO.
Babis's dismissal must formally be approved by President Milos Zeman, but the president has taken Babis's side in the dispute and has been delaying action.
