| Andrej Babiš MP |
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|---|---|
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| Minister of Finance | |
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Incumbent
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| Assumed office 29 January 2014 |
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| Prime Minister | Bohuslav Sobotka |
| Preceded by | Jan Fischer |
| Leader of ANO 2011 | |
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Incumbent
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| Assumed office 11 May 2012 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of Parliament for Prague | |
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Incumbent
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| Assumed office 26 October 2013 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 September 1954 Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) |
| Political party | Communist Party (1980–1989) ANO 2011 (2012–present) |
| Domestic partner | Monika Babišová |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of Economics, Bratislava |
Andrej Babiš (Czech pronunciation: [ˈandrɛj ˈbabɪʃ]; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech politician, entrepreneur and businessman of Slovak origin. Since 29 January 2014 he has been Finance Minister of the Czech Republic, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for the economy and since 11 May 2012 leader of political party ANO 2011. Babiš, the second richest man in the Czech Republic is a former CEO and sole owner of the Agrofert group with a net worth of about $2.6 billion according to Forbes magazine. Babiš is considered to be one of the most popular politicians in the Czech Republic.
Early life and career
He was born on 2 September 1954 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. His father, a diplomat and member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, represented Czechoslovakia during negotiations with the GATT at Geneva and as a consultant at UN. He is nephew of Ervin and Viera Scheibner.
Andrej Babiš spent a part of his childhood abroad. Later, he studied at a gymnasium in Bratislava and continued at the University of Economics, where he studied international trade. Following his studies, he worked as an employee of the Slovak communist controlled international trade company Petrimex in Morocco. In addition to accusations that he was a “powerful agent” for the Czechoslovak secret state security service, StB, during the Communist era, he also has been accused of being a KGB officer in those years.
He came back to Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution and resided in the Czech Republic after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. He became managing director of Agrofert in 1993 and gradually developed it into one of the largest companies in the country. Agrofert had been a subsidiary of Petrimex while Babiš was on the Board. During his time on the Board, Agrofert was quietly recapitalised by an obscure Swiss entity, OFI (located in the same small Swiss town, Baar, where Marc Rich was located), which took control of Agrofert from Petrimex. Petrimex later fired Babiš and sued him, unsuccessfully, for allowing the firm’s stake in Agrofert to be diluted. Soon thereafter, Babiš turned out to be the 100% owner of Agrofert. He originally focused his business activities mainly on agriculture, but in recent years he has acquired a large empire of media companies. This has brought him criticism from parties who believe he is amassing far too much power, since the media outlets he controls publish very sympathetic coverage of him.
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