Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) has reportedly been accused of a conflict of interest over EU subsidies received by his company Agrofert Holding, according to leaked documents, The Guardian reported on November 30.

In September, the European Commission was asked to investigate Babis’s Agrofert, when Transparency International Czech Republic complained about the potential conflicts of interests in prime minister business dealings. In his earlier statements, Babis called Transparency International accusations “nonsense.”

According to The Guardian, “A confidential European commission legal opinion … concludes that Babis is in a situation that “qualifies as a conflict of interest”, because public officials and politicians should not benefit from EU funds they ultimately control. The taxpayers of the Czech Republic face being asked to repay at least some of the €82m paid to Agrofert in 2018, but the final bill could be much higher.”

The European Commission has also been investigating other grants given to Agrofert in past five years. In their current analysis, the lawyers asked whether the prime minister breached the EU’s financial regulation relating to one strand of EU funds in 2018, however, the legal opinion also raises the question whether Babis was in a conflict of interest also as a finance minister in past few years.

The prime minister said to the Czech News Agency (CNA) that he had not seen the document yet, however, he denies any conflict of interest. “I am acting according to the law, as adopted by the Parliament, and the Czech legal system, in compliance with lex Babis. I do not manage or run the trust funds,” he said for the CNA.

“We consider this a nonsense and speculation. Last week, Commissioner Cretu said in the European Parliament that the European Commission is not conducting any investigation, so therefore there can be no report. We will wait for the official position of the European Commission, if any official report exists, we will undergo a legal analysis,” the spokesman of Agrofert Karel Hanzelka said for the CNA.

The allegations will intensify pressure on Babis who has faced scandal and calls for resignation since taking office a year ago. Jan Hamacek, Deputy Prime Minister and the chair of the coalition junior partner Social Democrats said it is unacceptable for the Czech Republic to return subsidies paid to Agrofert. “At this moment, only a piece of information from the internal report is published, but the analysis revealed by media is not officially published and therefore nothing can be anticipated at this moment. However, if someone has to explain this then it is Andrej Babis, certainly not the Social Democrats,” Hamacek said.