The former Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has been acquitted of charges of subsidy fraud just four days before a presidential election in which he is standing as a candidate.
The verdict, handed down in Prague’s municipal court, amounts to a major vindication for Babiš – a billionaire tycoon and one of the Czech Republic’s richest men – and may boost his chances of prevailing in next weekend’s poll, which has been partly overshadowed by his longstanding legal troubles.
