Agrofert

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Agrofert as

logo
legal form Joint stock company (Akciová společnost)
founding 1993
Seat Prague Czech RepublicCzech RepublicCzech Republic 
management Zbyněk Průša
Number of employees 33,778
sales 166.8 billion CZK (6.4 billion euros)
Branch Chemistry, trade, food, media
Website www.agrofert.cz
Status: 2014

Agrofert is a Czech company operating in the basic industries, chemicals, renewable energies, agriculture and forestry, agricultural trade, food production and media. It has numerous subsidiaries, including the Piesteritz nitrogen works in Lutherstadt Wittenberg , Germany's largest nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer , Lovochemie , the biodiesel manufacturer Preol , DEZA and the bread maker Lieken . The company was founded by Andrej Babiš , who was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance from the beginning of 2014 to May 2017 and has been Prime Minister of the Czech Republic since December 13, 2017 .

history

Agrofert was established in 1993 as a subsidiary of the state foreign trade group of Czechoslovakia, Petrimex . Today it is one of the largest companies and is the largest private employer in the Czech Republic, owns 57,000 hectares of agricultural land (1.6% of the total agricultural area), operates the second largest bakery and dairy company in the Czech Republic and the largest pork producer in the country (as of 2015). With the takeover of Lieken in 2013, Agrofert continued its expansion abroad. In the same year, the media holding MAFRA , which had previously belonged to the Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft (publisher of the Rheinische Post newspaper ), was taken over by the Agrofert subsidiary AGF Media as . It publishes number 1 and number 3 among the national newspapers in the Czech Republic ( Mladá fronta Dnes and Lidové noviny ).

Corruption suspected

Between 2004 and 2013 Agrofert in the Czech Republic received around 160 million euros in funding from the European Union. In 2014 and 2015, since Babiš became Minister of Finance, the company received a total of 92 million euros. In particular, the 50% increase in his first year in office, but also the associated conflict of interests are under discussion. A police prosecution of Andrej Babiš and his family (the family has not been prosecuted since 2019) as well as investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) drew a subsidy amount of 50 million kroner (according to other sources, 42 million kroner, which may have been obtained by fraud in 2008) ), d. H. less than 2 million euros for a holiday resort, which came from EU funds for small businesses. The company was spun off for this purpose, but is now owned by the group again.

At the end of May 2019, a preliminary audit report by the EU Commission revealed that up to 17.4 million euros could be reclaimed from the European social, cohesion and regional funds that had been paid to Agrofert Holding companies. Among other things, it says "The impartial and objective exercise of government offices by Mr. Babiš was impaired". Also, no more agricultural subsidies have been paid to the group since December 2018. Both are justified by the fact that the founder, Andrej Babiš, as Minister of Finance and later as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, has an influence on the allocation of these funds. Even after he transferred his shares in the company to private trust funds in 2017 , conflicts of interest cannot be ruled out, as Babiš appointed the managers of the two funds himself (his wife is only the so-called protector) and can remove them at any time. Contrary to the property guarantee of the Czech constitution , various complaints have been made that Babiš will again become the owner of Agrofert after he later left politics . At the beginning of June 2019, the chief public prosecutor resumed the criminal investigation against Babiš without sufficient justification, after a lower instance of the public prosecutor's office had since been discontinued due to lack of evidence.

Agrofert in Germany

Web links

Commons : Agrofert  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Commercial register on justice.cz, business identification number (IČ) 48117072, AGROFERT, spol. s ro
  2. ↑ a b The 2014 annual report.
  3. ↑ Czech Republic's Top 100 ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.czechtop100.cz
  4. ↑ lieken.de ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lieken.de
  5. ↑ Agrofert boss expands in Germany. "I am not God" . In: Wirtschaftswoche , June 18, 2013
  6. ↑ An oligarch makes politics. Czech Republic: Billionaire Andrej Babis stirs up the election campaign . October 11, 2013
  7. ↑ http://www.czech.cz/de/Nouvelles/EU-Juristen-Premier-Babis-im-Interessenkonflikt Radio Prague on December 3, 2018
  8. ↑ One flew over the stork's nest. The many scandals in the Czech Republic documented how corrupt politicians are. In: Die Zeit , No. 33/2016
  9. ↑ EU Commission confirms that the Czech premier has conflicts of interest
  10. ↑ Handelsblatt: Prime Minister Babis comes under pressure because of EU agricultural subsidies
  11. ↑ EU Commission confirms that the Czech premier has conflicts of interest
  12. ↑ Tagesspiegel: Czech public prosecutor is examining allegations against Prime Minister Babis