Former President Obama and former British Prime Minister May have used blind trust funds

Several U.S. presidents and British Prime Minister Theresa May have made use of a blind trust. ANO Chairman Andrej Babiš has decided to relinquish control of the Agrofert holding company, which posed a conflict of interest for him. The company will be managed by an independent trustee through a trust structure and overseen by an independent protector. Some lawyers and politicians have described the arrangement as a blind trust.

A blind trust is an instrument for the management of property, commonly used abroad. This institute was created as a tool for politicians or public figures who, during the performance of their public office, cannot be in a conflict of interest.

The essence of a blind trust is that the trustee – who should ideally be completely independent of the settlor – has complete freedom in how to handle the property in the trust, and at the same time does not inform the settlor about his actions in any way. The settlor thus does not have any possibility to control the trustee or the property in the trust. The property usually remains in the blind trust only for the duration of the performance of public office.

Partner in a law firm Portos Milan Kučera previously mentioned the Canadian system in connection with a blind trust, under which a public official in a conflict of interest must, for a certain period, place property into a blind trust, which is subsequently managed by an independent commissioner who enjoys parliamentary consensus.

From the website idnes.cz