Czechia’s fourth health minister since pandemic sparks another controversy

The Czech Republic’s new Health Minister Petr Arenberger, who took office on 7 April, has been challenged to explain alleged substantial irregularities in his tax returns, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Thursday.

The PM’s words come after recent reports revealed that Arenberger had declared significantly more assets and a higher income after joining the government than in previous years.

His newest tax declaration lists 65 properties and a secondary income of about €1.2 million. In previous years, his tax declaration listed five properties and no side income.

Arenberger is the fourth health minister to have joined the government during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first one, Adam Vojtěch, was health minister for several years before resigning in September for poor handling of the pandemic’s second wave. His successor, epidemiologist Roman Prymula, quit the job in less than a month after he was found to have violated COVID-19 measures. 

The third, now-former health minister Jan Blatný stayed in office for nearly six months until he was dismissed – the real reason probably being his negative stance on using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine without it first being approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). (Ondřej Plevák | EURACTIV.cz)