PRAGUE, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Senate, the upper house of Czech parliament, on Thursday set up a special commission to assess the European Commission (EC) audits concerning Prime Minister Andrej Babis's suspected conflict of interest and EU subsidies for Czech agriculture, according to local media reports.
The 12-member interim commission, which will not be investigative, will meet for the first time on July 2.
All six senatorial factions are represented in the established commission, each with two representatives. The commission would work till the end of January, but its mandate may be extended if necessary.
Its first aim is to collect information about the recent EC audit reports on Babis, said local reports.
The preliminary EC audit report published days ago said Babis faced a conflict of interest due to the EU subsidies paid to Agrofert, which he transferred to trust funds in February 2017 to meet the amended conflict of interest law, but is still influencing as the trust funds' main beneficiary. Moreover, as the PM, he can influence the distribution of EU subsidies, said the reports.
The new body may also deal with the prepared Czech stance on the EU audit of agriculture subsidies warning of a possible conflict of interest of Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman. Besides, it will try to compare the current audit drafts with the previous subsidy cases.
