Senate Investigates Agrofert Loans

agrofert andrej babis

Czech Senator Lukáš Wagenknecht has contacted banks in Austria, Slovakia and Germany to investigate Agrofert loans. The Senator is seeking details on how Agrofert operates and whether false ownership information was provided by Agrofert when securing the loans, Neovlivni reports.

Senator Lukáš Wagenknecht decided to obtain information on how European banks financing Agrofert in various countries of the European Union have dealt with discrepancies regarding the actual owner of Agrofert companies. In Slovakia – as found last year by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International – the company listed in the public register as the controlling person, just Andrej Babiš. In the Czech Republic, on the other hand, the company claims that Andrej Babiš has no influence on Agrofert’s operations.

On Monday, Wagenknecht asked the national banks in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, and other countries to check the information about Agrofert’s ownership of billions of loans.

According to banking regulations, the provision of false data is subject to anti-money laundering rules. The Wagenknecht Initiative towards Banks, calls for a review of how lending financial institutions have verified the data and evidence of the beneficial owner of the holding. And whether they did so in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Directive.