Political commentary about Czech

With a little time on one’s hands from tramping around Prague I cannot resist a little political commentary about Czech. Much of this thanks to Wikipedia. 

The latest estimates are that there are 10.3 Million people living in Czech which means it is about a third of the population of Canada. About 1.3 Million live in the Prague area (about the same as the population of the lower mainland of BC - the Vancouver Region).

Andrej Babis is the prime minister. He is the oldest and wealthiest Prime Minister (he is 63) ever. He is said to be the second richest person in the Czech Republic (Estimated wealth $4.04 Billion). He owns Agrofert holdings which has 230 companies - mostly newspapers. He is meant to have put this in a blind trust since he became prime minister. 

He is very popular. (Possibly because he controls most of the press but not so much as in Hungary and according to my guide some criticism of the government is tolerated). 

Before Andrej Babis became prime minister he was investigated for fraud but on election as prime minister he was granted immunity from prosecution. 

In 2014 Politico (a US political commentator) stated “The Czech Republic is now a paradox: a society disgusted with corruption has given huge power to a man whose business interests amount to the biggest conflict of interest in the countries post-1989”

He was previously a member of the Communist secret police. He visited US President Trump on March 7th 2019. 

Peter, my guide, said that Andrej Babis has close ties with President  Putin of Russia and  Xi Jinping of China. 

It seems Andrej Babis is another “gangster capitalist” whose interests mainly lie in improving their wealth rather that doing what is best for the people of their country.