State pays subsidy to Babis trust fund's firm despite stoppage

The Czech state has paid out a subsidy of 547,000 crowns to Fatra, a firm from Prime Minister Andrej Babis's trust fund, though all payments to firms from the Agrofert holding have been preventively suspended over a European Commission audit enquiring into Babis's suspected conflict of interest, news portal iROZHLAS.cz reported. According to iROZHLAS, the Czech authorities have granted the subsidy to Fatra, a plastics manufacturer, as a test to show whether Brussels will really refuse to reimburse the sum for Czechia and to gain Brussel's decision rejecting Prague's application for the reimbursement, Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlicek said.