Babis Denies Claims Elections Influenced By Foreign Companies

andrej Babis

Prague, April 19 (CTK) – Czech secret services and security bodies do not have any information that any foreign companies influenced the recent election to the Chamber of Deputies, Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) told journalists today.

 

Babis said he would have the information on British company Cambridge Analytica taking part in the election campaign before the October 2017 general election checked.

 

He promised to do so reacting to the news released by Marketa Pekarova Adamova (TOP 09) during the question time in the Chamber of Deputies today.

 

“As of today, no information is known that would prove any intervention in the election to the Chamber of Deputies and no speculations have been confirmed that the election was influenced,” Babis said, referring to the report from the director of the BIS counter-intelligence Michal Koudelka.

 

Pekarova Adamova warned of the recordings made by the British Channel 4. It says the company, which collects and analyses data, secretly took part in election campaigns across the world, including those in the Czech Republic.

 

She said the company posted the information online so that no one thought this was propaganda.

 

Pekarova Adamova also mentioned the reports that the Russian oil company Lukoil took a financial part in this. She added that President Milos Zeman’s aide Martin Nejedly is a former agent of its Czech daughter company.

 

Babis said neither the Interior Ministry, nor BIS, nor the National Cyber and Information Security Office (NUKIB) had any information on any intervention in the parliamentary or presidential elections.

 

Due to the work of Cambridge Analytica, the Facebook and its head Mark Zuckerberg are facing criticism. This is due to the news that Cambridge Analytica dubiously gained information about 50 million Facebook users and used it for the development of the software in support of the election campaign of President Donald Trump in 2016.