800 million disappeared and one of the richest Czechs hid them, writes the prosecutor

A case that is unusual by Czech standards is heading to the Prague Municipal Court. Twenty-one people were indicted because, according to the prosecutor, they participated in tax evasion exceeding 846 million crowns in connection with the business of ČKD Praha DIZ.

At the very top of the organized group, as written in the indictment, which is available to Seznam Zprávy, was the head of this company at the time, Petr Speychal. The former owner of the hockey club Sparta, who in the past, among other things, also traded with Russian champagne and caviar, was one of the fifty richest Czechs ten years ago.

However, after ČKD Praha DIZ ended up in bankruptcy, it weakened and now has to solve another problem. State attorney Petra Ullrichová proposed in the indictment to the court that Speychal end up in prison for 12.5 years. In addition, he demands that the state confiscate his property. She proposed similarly severe punishments for other actors (overview in the box below).

“Petr Speychal was the only person who, as the owner of ČKD Praha DIZ, benefited materially from the reduction of the named company’s tax obligations,” Ullrichová wrote in the indictment.

She described that over 828 million crowns were withdrawn in cash from the bank accounts of companies that Speychal secretly owned in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Some of this money was distributed among members of the organized group, according to investigators.

Speychal kept a significant part. However, the police did not find out where the hundreds of millions are. “Petr Speychal purposefully hid these funds, possibly with the help of other persons, not only from the tax administrator, but also from the law enforcement authorities, because despite an extensive financial investigation, no significant assets owned by Petr Speychal could be traced,” added the plaintiff.

Petr Speychal denied that he participated in organizing criminal activity. He pleaded not guilty during his interrogation. His lawyer Josef Monsport then wrote to Seznam Zprávám that the indictment basically says the same thing as the police already stated in the indictment six years ago. According to Monsport, investigators do not have enough evidence against his client.

What punishments does the prosecution want for the main actors in the case?

In addition to Speychal, the then managers of the ČKD Praha DIZ company, representatives of the companies with which this company did business, or the so-called white horses, were also indicted. According to the accusations, the group created a network of companies that supplied ČKD Praha DIZ with fictitious invoices. Thanks to this, the company was finally able to write off a larger volume on taxes. Judge Miroslav Rakosník has now decided that the case will be heard in court from mid-September.

The indictment also alleges that Speychal commissioned his long-time associate Peter Gregor to figure out how to withdraw hundreds of millions, thus being the “mastermind” of the entire transaction, according to the plaintiff. At the same time, Gregor controlled or had access to the accounts of dozens of companies in the Czech Republic and abroad, which – as the indictment claims – but secretly belonged to Speychal.

He also had another role. “Petr Gregor acted as a liaison between the ‘highest’, as he referred to Petr Speychal, and other members of the organized crime group,” the prosecutor wrote. And she proposed the same punishment for Gregor as Speychal. So 12.5 years in prison and forfeiture of property.

Gregor denied guilt after his accusation. But later he turned around. “After the end of the investigation, he sent a written statement to the police authority, in which he took practically all responsibility for the criminal activity upon himself, stating that he had organized everything without the knowledge of the management of DIZ (ČKD Praha DIZ) and Petr Speychal,” said Ullrichová.

What led him to do so, however, is unknown. “The client is not interested in making any statements at this stage,” said Gregor’s lawyer Dan Modlitba.

Another indictment was filed in this case. According to her, over thirty people who played the role of so-called white horses ended up in court. According to the prosecutors, most of them therefore played the role of only inserted figures. They were registered with companies that, according to the police, issued fictitious invoices. The Prague Municipal Court will begin hearing this case in October this year.