Pandora Papers a worry for Czech PM Babis ahead of election
PRAGUE — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis is heading into a
parliamentary election this week hit by yet another scandal that links him and
hundreds of other wealthy people to offshore accounts.
Findings by the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists dubbed the “Pandora Papers” shed light on how the elite and the
corrupt used offshore accounts to shield their assets from taxes or to hide
ill-gotten gains.
Here’s a look at the previously hidden dealings making waves
in the Czech Republic and the country’s election taking place on Friday and
Saturday:
WHAT DID BABIS DO?
In 2009, Babis, a populist billionaire, put $22 million into
shell companies to buy 16 properties in southern France, including a chateau,
the investigation found. They were not disclosed in Babis’ required asset
declarations, according to documents obtained by the journalism group’s Czech
partner, Investigace.cz.
Babis has denied any wrongdoing and alleged that the recent
revelation was meant to harm him in the election.
“I don’t own any offshore. I don’t own any property in
France,” he said. “It’s nasty, false accusations that are meant to influence
the election. That’s all.”
The Czech Republic’s organized crime police unit said it
would investigate the situation. The country’s political opposition is
demanding that Babis prove his actions were in line with law.
WHAT’S THE POLITICAL SITUATION?
Babis, 67, has had a turbulent term featuring numerous
scandals, but all public polls favor his centrist ANO (YES) movement to win the
election with about 25% of the vote.
Five opposition parties with policies closer to the European
Union’s mainstream have put aside their differences to create two coalitions
aimed at ousting the euroskeptic prime minister from power.
Babis has led a minority coalition government of ANO and the
leftist Social Democrats with support from the Communists, giving the far-left
party an indirect share of power for the first time since 1989. The Communist
Party vehemently opposes NATO and maintains friendly ties with the ruling
communists in Cuba, China and North Korea.
Both the Social Democrats and the Communists might struggle
to win parliamentary seats at all, this time around. The main challenge for
Babis’ main challengers is to get united.
The center-right Together coalition consists of the
conservative Civic Democratic Party and Christian Democrats and the
liberal-conservative TOP 09 party. The liberal Pirate Party and STAN, a group
of mayors and independent candidates, formed a center-left coalition.
Each coalition is predicted to win about 20% of the vote.
Despite their differences on many issues, including climate
change, same-sex marriage and the adoption of the euro, the opposition parties
all support EU and NATO membership.
BABIS’ POPULIST CAMPAIGN PLEDGE: NO MIGRANTS
Babis has bet on an aggressive campaign, with migration a
major topic. He has promised voters that not a single illegal migrant would be
allowed to enter the Czech Republic and accused the opposition — with no evidence
— of inviting in refugees.
He has also pledged to protect the Czechs from the European
Union, which he claims wants to destroy the country’s sovereignty. The EU’s
plan to tackle climate change would also harm Czech people’s way of life, Babis
has claimed.
Targeting his key supporters, he increased pensions more
than required and lowered income taxes amid a record deficit caused by the
pandemic, a move that worries economists.
“Babis is trying to divide the society, to create an
atmosphere of fear for some of their safety and present himself as the only one
to protect them,” Palacky University political scientist Tomas Lebeda said.
“It’s a classic strategy used by most populists, by Donald Trump, by (Hungarian
Prime Minister) Viktor Orban.”
Babis, who calls Hungary’s nationalist leader his friend,
invited Orban to join him at an election rally last week.
“It’s obviously a reason for concern, not just for Europe,
but above all for the Czech Republic, given what’s been going on in Hungary,”
Lebeda said.
Although Orban is popular in his country, critics accuse him
of autocratic tendencies, citing his seizing control of Hungary’s media to
control political narratives. Several journalists from the Czech, German and
French media were denied access to a news conference Orban and Babis held in
the northern city of Usti nad Labem.
A POLITICIAN WHO’S ACTIONS ARE OFTEN QUESTIONED
The Pandora Papers report is not the first time that Babis’
wealth and business activity have become a political issue since his party won
the 2017 election.
A quarter of a million Czechs rallied against him twice in
2019 over his alleged fraud involving EU funds and allegations of his
cooperation with the country’s communist-era secret police. The protests were
by far the biggest anti-government demonstrations since the country’s 1989
Velvet Revolution.
An EU investigation found that as prime minister Babis had a
conflict of interest from his former business empire. When he took office,
Czech law required him to transfer his Agrofert conglomerate of around 250
companies into two trust funds, but the EU concluded that he still controls
them. The companies include two national newspapers and a popular radio
station.
His resolve to run the government as a company was tested by
the coronavirus pandemic. Babis went through five health ministers, and the
Czech Republic has reported more than 30,400 COVID-19 deaths among a population
of 10.7 million.
IS AN EXTREME COALITION AHEAD?
Depending on election’s results, Babis may face the option
of forming a coalition with the Communists or with Freedom and Direct
Democracy, the most anti-migrant, anti-Muslim party in the Czech Republic.
Freedom and Direct Democracy hopes to equal if not better
its showing in the last election, when it won 10.6% of the vote. It wants to
lead the country out of the EU and hold a referendum on NATO membership.
Its leader, Tomio Okamura, has condemned the government for
bringing to the country 170 Afghan citizens, including local staffers at the
Czech embassy in Kabul and interpreters who helped the Czech armed forces and
their families.
The group has also protested alleged discrimination against
Czechs who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus.
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