Andrej Babiš. | Martin Divisek/EPA Czech lawmakers vote to strip PM candidate of immunity Andrej Babiš denies having illegally obtained an EU subsidy.

PRAGUE — The Czech parliament voted Wednesday to strip the likely next prime minister, Andrej Babiš, of his parliamentary immunity so that he can be prosecuted on subsidy fraud charges.

Czech police will now be able to investigate the former finance minister on suspicion of having manipulated ownership of a subsidiary of Agrofert, a conglomerate that founded in 1993, to illegally obtain 50 million Czech koruna (€1.91 million) from the EU. He denies the charges.

The EU's anti-fraud office (OLAF) has also launched an investigation into the case.

During the debate that preceded the vote, Babiš said he would gladly waive his immunity “to make the truth come out.”

“You will not silence, you will not hurt, you will not stop, and you will not get rid of me either,” the billionaire businessman told fellow MPs.

According to recent polls, Babiš' ANO party is poised to easily win the parliamentary election scheduled for October 20-21. If that happens, Babiš will likely be named prime minister.

The case dates back to 2008, when Babiš allegedly changed the ownership of the Stork’s Nest resort and conference center to make it eligible for an EU subsidy, which was earmarked for small- and medium-sized firms. Agrofert consists of some 225 companies and, with revenues of nearly 120 million koruna, would have been ineligible.

Police claim that Stork’s Nest was returned to Agrofert ownership after the subsidy was received. Babiš has claimed that the resort was owned by family members when it received the money.

It is highly unlikely that the investigation will be completed before the election. If Babiš does become prime minister, he would again be immune from prosecution. As he put it Wednesday, “My political fate will be decided by voters in the election.”

Babiš founded ANO in 2012 as an anti-corruption party. In the 2013 election, it received 18.7 percent of the vote and became the country’s second most powerful party, with 47 seats in the lower house of parliament. It is currently a junior partner in the three-party ruling coalition headed by the Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.