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Czech PM to Call on President to Dismiss Finance Minister Amid Fraud Suspicion

© AFP 2023 / EMMANUEL DUNAND Czech Republic's Prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka arrives for an EU summit meeting, at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, on February 18, 2016
Czech Republic's Prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka arrives for an EU summit meeting, at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, on February 18, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Friday that he had reversed his decision to resign, but intends to call instead on the country's President Milos Zeman to dismiss Finance Minister Andrej Babis.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka meets with President Milos Zeman at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic May 4, 2017 - Sputnik International
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PRAGUE (Sputnik) Sobotka announced his decision to resign on Tuesday amid a row with Babis and was expected to hand in his resignation to Zeman at the meeting held on Thursday. However, regardless of the ceremony prepared by Zeman, Sobotka said he wanted to inform the president about the present situation, but not to submit resignation.

"I am not going to submit the cabinet's resignation to the president. Today I will send to the Prazsky hrad [president's residence] a petition for withdrawal from the government of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babis," Sobotka said at a press conference.

According to Sobotka, he changed his mind after Zeman had indicated that he would treat the resignation as Sobotka's own, not of the entire cabinet.

Sobotka pointed out he could not be responsible for a government in which the financial minister was suspected of fraud.

Babis, who is one of the richest people in the Czech Republic, has been accused of tax evasion to the tune of millions of dollars, partly during his time in office, despite his party's anti-corruption platform. The Czech parliament ordered him to explain his private finances in late April after allegations that a part of his fortune could have been amassed by transferring bonds between entities involved in his business empire without being taxed.

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