Transparency International demands public apology from Czech PM Babiš

Prague, Czech Republic – The Czech branch of international corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has demanded that Prime Minister Andrej Babis apologizes for his attacks against the organization and defamatory comments.

In the past few weeks, the Czech Premier has frequently described TI as a “corrupt NGO”.

According to local media, Transparency International is threatening to sue the Czech Premier unless he issues an apology, in writing and within a week, for his “false accusations”. Legal representatives for the NGO said these repeated comments were “deeply offensive” and “damaged the reputation” of Transparency International.

Andrej Babis and the Office of the Government had not commented on the issue at the time of writing.

Andrej Babis and TI, including the director of its Czech branch David Ondráčka, are known to regularly cross swords with one another. To understand why Transparency International has become one of Babis’ favorite targets, the NGO was responsible for bringing the case of his conflict of interest at the EU level, which eventually resulted in an EU preliminary report finding Babis might be violating EU rules regarding conflict of interest.

Transparency International is also behind the domestic conflict of interest case faced by the Czech Premier in the municipality of Černošice.

David Ondráčka is a frequent high-profile speaker at the anti-government protests organized throughout the country for the past several weeks that have been calling for the Czech Prime Minister’s resignation.