Babiš, Under Investigation in France, Sells His €22.5 Million Chateau
In 2021, Andrej Babiš lost the Czech elections after the “Pandora Papers” investigation revealed his secret French real estate holdings, bought through offshore companies with funds of unknown origin. Amidst a probe by French authorities, Chateau Bigaud is now listed for sale at €22.5 million.
In 2009, Andrej Babiš acquired properties on the French Riviera. He purchased Chateau Bigaud, featuring five bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms, a home movie theater, three fireplaces, and a sauna, for €15 million (nearly 400 million CZK at the time) through several anonymous offshore companies. He has never convincingly explained the source of the funds used for the purchase, nor has he clarified why he failed to include this property in his annual asset declarations required upon entering politics, where he otherwise provides a detailed overview of his financial situation.
His secret real estate purchase using shell companies was particularly striking because, in 2011, Andrej Babiš founded his party, ANO 2011, to “fight corruption and other ills in the country’s political system.” Babiš ran on an anti-corruption platform, entered the Czech parliament in 2013, and eventually became Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in 2017. However, when investigace.cz revealed his French assets in 2021 as part of the Pandora Papers investigation (read the English version here), Babiš subsequently lost his bid for re-election. Furthermore, following the Pandora Papers revelations, the French prosecutor’s office began investigating Babiš regarding this transaction in 2022.
Today, however, Chateau Bigaud is listed for sale at €22.5 million. This is also the first time that we can take a detailed look at how the Babiš property looks from the inside.
According to a discreet listing that does not reveal the address, the Sotheby’s real estate agency, which specializes in luxury properties, describes the real estate surrounded by approximately 5.5 hectares of land as follows:
“The property offers an exceptional setting, quality features, and noble and elegant materials. From the pool, you can enjoy an impressive and stunning sea view in absolute tranquility. Shaded courtyards, furnished terraces, and landscaped parks allow you to enjoy the most beautiful views of the Côte d’Azur, just steps from amenities, a prestigious international school, two prestigious golf courses, Cannes and its waterfront, and the highway to Nice just minutes away.
The estate features a very beautiful entrance, a driveway, and fountains. Covering 700 sqm, the property offers a triple reception room with a fireplace, 5 en-suite bedrooms with bathrooms, a kitchen with a pantry, a games room, a home cinema, and a sauna. Warm and elegant, the main living room, in shades of beige, cream, white, and noble materials such as stone, wood, and natural fibers, opens onto the pool area with a beautiful sea view. The well-equipped kitchen has a breakfast area, perfect for family use and entertaining needs. The suites are elegantly furnished, spacious, and comfortable, each with its own bathroom.
This estate also consists of numerous outbuildings, including a caretaker’s apartment, in the heart of approximately 5.5 hectares of land with stables, arenas, tennis courts, a heated infinity pool with a breathtaking sea view, and a guest house with 4 en-suite bedrooms and a private pool.”
In 2018, the then-Prime Minister’s wife Monika Babišová was photographed here with friends and inflatable flamingos. She vacationed at Chateau Bigaud on the French Riviera every summer, as evidenced by other photos from her Instagram, where she used the hashtag Cannes and the respective year. Andrej Babiš was also photographed here – for example, in July 2015, when he served as Minister of Finance, he was pictured lounging in an inflatable boat.
Andrej Babiš in the heated pool on the grounds of Château Bigaud in 2015. Source: Facebook of Andrej Babiš
Andrej Babiš had a series of offshore companies created by the Panamanian law firm Alcogal for the purpose of purchasing real estate. The first was registered in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, another in the USA, and in Monaco. The contract, €15 million (approximately 400 million CZK) in the form of a loan for the property, which Andrej Babiš provided himself and which was used only by Andrej Babiš and his family, raised many suspicions. The loan is defined in the contract as repayable with interest on September 17, 2019. However, both companies – the lender and the borrower – dissolved before the loan’s due date without any successors. It is unclear whether the loan worth €15 million was ever repaid or claimed.
Babiš did not include his Caribbean company Blakey Finance, which existed until 2015, and Washington-based Boyne Holding, dissolved in 2018, or even 0.1 percent of the Monaco company SCP Bigaud, which owns the mentioned property in France, in any asset declaration he was obliged to fill out annually after entering Czech politics, where he otherwise provides a detailed overview of his financial situation, from luxury watches to life insurance or salary from his company, Agrofert.
The French anti-corruption and financial and tax fraud office (Office central de lutte contre la corruption et les infractions financières et fiscales) has been preliminarily investigating the former Czech prime minister since February 2022. The prosecution finds it problematic that Babiš is the owner of both the company that provided the funds and the company that subsequently purchased the properties. The origin of the money remains unknown. Moreover, by claiming the money was borrowed, Babiš also avoided paying the so-called French “wealth tax.”
We reached out to Babiš’s Agrofert company for comments about the sale of Chateau Bigaud who replied that the property is not related in any way to them. Then we reached out directly to Andrej Babiš, and will update the article once we receive a response.
Cover photo source: sothebysrealty.com
The Czech version of this story was published on investigace.cz.
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A Czech journalist, Pavla Holcová is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism. She is an editor at OCCRP and a member of ICIJ. She was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University (2023). Pavla is the winner of the ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award and, with her colleagues Arpád Soltész and Eva Kubániová, the World Justice Project’s Anthony Lewis Prize Award. She is based in Prague.
VSquare’s Budapest-based lead investigative editor in charge of Central European investigations, Szabolcs Panyi is also a Hungarian investigative journalist at Direkt36. He covers national security, foreign policy, and Russian and Chinese influence. He was a European Press Prize finalist in 2018 and 2021.