PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš faced a parliamentary no-confidence vote Tuesday over a ballooning budget deficit and questions about the prime minister’s conflict of interest.
The opposition parties that requested the vote condemned the draft 2027 budget deficit approved by the government at 386 billion koruna, or Czech crowns ($18 billion), the second largest in Czech history. This year’s deficit should reach 310 billion koruna.
Most economists and opposition parties have criticized the government for proposing such a deficit at a time the country's gross domestic product is expected to grow by 2.7% next year, according to the Czech central bank.
The government said it is necessary to boost investments and its other priorities, such as health care and rises in pensions and public-sector salaries.
Babiš, one of the richest Czechs, has been under fire for not doing enough to avoid a conflict of interest that arises from his private dealings and his political status.
Since he returned to power after his ANO (YES) movement won decisively in October's election, Babiš has moved about 200 of his companies under the Agrofert conglomerate to an independent trust fund to meet the requirements of a conflict of interest law; otherwise, his businesses would not be eligible for state and European Union subsidies.
His investment in the health care sector has not been affected by the move.
The European Commission stated earlier this month that the trust fund does not sufficiently solve the problem, saying Babiš remains in a potential conflict of interest, and suspended some payments to Agrofert.
The opposition has also criticized Babiš for his verbal attacks against independent courts, judges and media.
He has formed a governing coalition with two small political groups whose agenda includes reducing support for Ukraine and rejecting some key European Union policies.
FILE - Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis talks to journalists as he arrives for the EU summit in Brussels on June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman, File)
Manchester City has been found guilty of almost all of the more than 100 charges of financial wrongdoing, the Premier League confirmed on Tuesday, in one of the biggest scandals in English soccer history.
City, the most successful team in England for the past 15 years and the current Premier League leader, now faces severe sanctions that could include a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League, causing huge reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.
The explosive verdict by an independent commission “details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a case that was initiated by the competition more than three years ago and first arose in 2018 from leaked club emails and documents.
City was accused of a raft of financial violations from 2009-18 — a period when the northwest club, long in the shadow of great rival Manchester United, was transforming itself into a record-breaking global superpower that has won multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League.
The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi, hiding payments that supplemented salaries of managers and players, and breaching financial rules established by the Premier League and UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, aiming to keep clubs financially stable by not spending beyond their means.
On top of that, City faced many other charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation between 2018-23.
"An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period,” the league said, “and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation.”
Regarding the sponsorship deals, the league said: “Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.
“The club,” the league added, “filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.”
The verdict essentially finds that City’s dominance of the English game — delivered by its expensively assembled, star-studded squads that have been curated over the past two decades — was built on a foundation of deceit and cover-ups.
It is set to bring chaos to English soccer in general, triggering a slew of lawsuits from rival clubs calling for compensation for having been impacted by City’s actions.
There’s also the question of whether City’s top stars, like Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki, will stay at the club and what the future holds for Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family who bought City in 2008 and has gone on to own a group of worldwide teams — under the City Football Group banner — including New York City FC and Melbourne City.
City has always protested its innocence in the case, saying in 2023 when the charges were laid that there was a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.”
Even over the weekend, City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said there remained a ”confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence.”
City is set to appeal against the verdict. Any appeal could end up in the High Court in London if City feels the process in the case was unfair and/or impartial.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
FILE - A groundsman disinfects a corner flag ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Burnley at Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Monday, June 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Rickett,Pool, File)
FILE - A banner celebrating their title win is illuminated outside Manchester City's Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)
FILE - The club logo decorates a corner flag before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)
