Tjeckisk valfavorit värjer sig mot Trumpjämförelse

Andrej Babiš (Czech pronunciation: [ˈandrɛj ˈbabɪʃ]; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech politician, entrepreneur and businessman of Slovak origin who served as Finance Minister of the Czech Republic and Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the economy from January 2014 to May 2017 until he was dismissed by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka due to allegations of financial irregularities. Babiš has led ANO 2011 party since 2012 when he founded it as a protest movement against established politics. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Prague since 2013. Babiš, the second richest man in the Czech Republic, is a former CEO and sole owner of the Agrofert group with a net worth of about $4.04 billion according to Bloomberg. Andrej Babiš was sacked from the government by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on 24 May 2017 after month-long coalition crisis that initially started with allegations that he avoided paying taxes as CEO of Agrofert in 2012. Despite this, Babiš is considered to be one of the most popular politicians in the Czech Republic and some political pundits predict that he will become Prime Minister himself following the 2017 Czech legislative election. During his tenure at the Ministry of Finance, Babiš introduced controversial policies such as electronic registration of sales, known as EET, proposed reverse charging of value-added tax and VAT control statement for companies. He has been criticized for tightening grip on small and medium-sized enterprises and sole proprietorship while turning blind eye on big corporations and helping his own Agrofert holding. His supporters highlight higher income of taxes to the government budget. Babiš has been under investigation by both Czech Police and OLAF since December 2015 amid allegations that an anonymous company he controlled unlawfully received subsidies from the European Union. In September 2017, his parliamentary immunity was stripped after police request in connection with the case and Babiš was formally charged on 9 October 2017.