Czech billionaire Babis fights fraud trial alongside presidential contest

Czech billionaire and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis returned to court to fight fraud accusations over a 2 million euro subsidy on Wednesday, days before a presidential election in which he is a favourite begins.
Babis has been a dominant force in Czech politics for the past decade, first as a powerful finance minister and later as prime minister, before opposition parties combined to unseat him in an 2021 election despite his ANO party winning the most seats in parliament.
With his party in opposition now, Babis, 68, is seeking to win the presidency and replace his frequent ally, Milos Zeman, whose second term ends in March.
But the owner of the Agrofert chemicals, farming, food and media conglomerate, now sitting in a trust, has long faced conflict of interest allegations because of his vast business empire.
Babis’s trial involves charges he illegally tapped an EU subsidy, before he formed his ANO party in 2011, to build the Stork’s Nest conference centre near Prague by hiding his ownership in the project.