French tax evasion investigators have concluded their investigation into Czech PM Andrej Babis and his purchase of a property in the south of France, vice-financial prosecutor Berenice Dinh, from the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), told Czech news server Seznam Zpravy yesterday.
She said she was not yet allowed to say what conclusion the investigators reached. “My colleague has to read through the entire investigation and then decide what to do,” Dinh told the server.
French authorities have been investigating allegations of possible money laundering and tax evasion. Babis previously denied any wrongdoing.
Seznam Zpravy reported that Babis did not answer whether he had been informed by French authorities of the investigation’s findings.
The transaction under investigation by French authorities appeared in documents leaked in the Pandora Papers. According to the French daily Le Monde, Babis bought the villa in the south of France in September 2009 through a chain of offshore companies. According to Le Monde, two properties, including a villa with a three-hectare plot, were bought by a company based in Monaco. At the time, it was owned by an offshore company from the United States. The properties cost 14 million euros.
According to French experts addressed by CTK, Babis has immunity as prime minister in France. This is linked to the office of prime minister and lasts for as long as Babis is premier. However, the French authorities do not recognise Czech parliamentary immunity, so they do not have to ask the lower house of Czech parliament to release him for prosecution
