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collaborated with the StB.” He added: “Of course I am bothered that this issue is returning to the beginning after five years and will be abused in a political fight... a few days ahead of an election.”
Babis has previously conceded he had meetings with StB officers in the former Czechoslovakia, but says he only ever discussed the economic interests of the country. Having cleared his name after launching a lawsuit, he now faces the prospect of having to fight another law- suit to again obtain a favourable verdict. Quiet recapitalisation of Agrofert
After the Velvet Revolution of 1989 which toppled Czechoslovak commu- nism, Babis went on to reside in the newly-created Czech Republic from 1993, where he built up the agrochemi- cals, foodstuffs (and now also media) empire of Agrofert. His enemies say Babis has never satisfactorily explained how he quietly recapitalised Agrofert using an obscure Swiss entity. On the campaign trail, Babis insists that his business practices are entirely clean and that a big priority for ANO in government – where it is currently
the main junior partner to the Social Democrats (CSSD) – is dismantling business, political and organised crime networks that facilitate corruption.
Another concern for Babis' critics
is his closeness to Czech President Milos Zeman who often serves as an ally of the Kremlin. On October 11, Zeman told the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg that Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region is a “fait accompli” and that there should now be dialogue over Russian compensation for Ukraine.
That sparked a row with the Czech Republic's CSSD prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, who responded that the head of state "had no mandate" to make such remarks. It also reminded some observers that a country led by
a Prime Minister Babis and President Zeman could come under the sway of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Other crit- ics reject that analysis, saying that any shift of alliances away from the West would be far more moderate.
Former Fidesz oligarch caught spray-painting obscene graffiti
bne intellinews
Lajos Simicska, a Hungarian oligarch locked in a public feud with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, made headline news on October 3 after he was caught vandalising his own newsstands in his hometown. "Orban is a f***er", he reportedly spray-painted in big bold letters on his blank newsstands before police caught him, but he was let go.
Simicska painted the same infamous words on his kiosks back in February 2015, when he broke from Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a former close friend as well as a political associate.
The pictures of Simicska, sporting a stained jacket and holding a cigarette in his right hand, on the streets of Veszprem, were taken by Helyi Valasz, an online news outlet he reportedly owns.
On Facebook the outlet wrote: “Lajos Simicska went to work last night. He was quickly stopped by police”, alongside photos of the oligarch.
Simicska served as treasurer for the ruling Fidesz party, being the mastermind behind the finances of the party from the start and was one of Orban’s closest allies until he broke with the government in a salty outburst in 2015.
His media empire gradually turned critical against the government and in the last year or so he has reportedly been actively using his billboard companies and media to help the nationalist Jobbik party. The radical party has recently toned down its far-right and anti-EU rhetoric and has worked together on some issues with the leftist opposition parties in parliament.
In the spring Jobbik launched a scathing billboard campaign against Fidesz on billboards owned by Simicska, after which governing parties passed regulation banning political ads outside pre-election campaign periods.
In the follow-up to this, some 1,100 advertising spaces owned by the businessman were reportedly “sold” to Jobbik, but they soon will be taken away. The county government offices announced that Jobbik failed to release the list price of the posters, as stipulated by law, and therefore it will remove the posters.
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