Czech crisis goes on as premier rejects minister replacement

PRAGUE (AP) - The Czech Republic's political crisis is nowhere near an end after Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka rejected a proposal for a new finance minister.

Sobotka asked President Milos Zeman to fire Finance Minister Andrej Babis, one of the country's richest people, over unexplained business dealings. Babis has denied wrongdoing, saying he won't resign.

Zeman has so far refused to fire his ally and says he considers Babis a successful minister.

In an effort to resolve the crisis, Babis proposed his deputy, Alena Schillerova, who isn't affiliated with any political party, as a replacement Friday. ANO is favored to win October's parliamentary election well ahead of Sobotka's leftist Social Democrats.

But Sobotka said Monday that Schillerova is too close to Babis and he had no guarantees she would act independently.