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What has five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, two swimming pools, and is the subject of at least one investigation by French authorities? The luxury Riviera property that Former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis secretly owned through offshore companies, and which was recently listed for sale by Sotheby's International Realty at $24.7 million.

Babis’ property, which ICIJ first revealed he owned in the Pandora Papers investigation, ended up at the center of the 2021 investigation into the secret offshore dealings of the Czech billionaire-turned-politician.

The listing on Sotheby’s International Realty’s website reveals new details about the estate, which was built in 2008 in Mougins, near Cannes. In addition to the five bedrooms and pair of swimming pools, the property includes a tennis court, a wine cellar and a grotto.

A spokeswoman for the real estate agency’s Cannes office declined to provide details on the seller, but said that the property has belonged to the same owner for more than 10 years and was used as a “secondary home.”

ICIJ found that in 2009, Babis used a Panama-based financial services provider to set up shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Washington, D.C. and Monaco, and move $22 million through the firms to secretly buy the lavish estate named Chateau Bigaud.

But neither the chateau property nor the companies involved in its ownership appeared in documents he filed as required by Czech law while he was prime minister, asset declaration forms obtained by ICIJ Czech partner, Investigace.cz, showed.

Following the revelations, French authorities launched an investigation into Babis’ acquisition of the property, as part of a probe into allegations of money laundering, Le Monde reported. The investigation is ongoing.

According to the Sotheby’s International Realty spokeswoman, some potential buyers had visited the villa, but “nothing serious” — the property is still for sale. Read more.