Prague appeals court begins hearing privatisation case of MUS, managers face billion-crown claims
Prague High Court is proceeding with appeals in the case of the privatisation of the Mostecká Coal Company. Koláček and Klimecký reject the non-final prison sentences.
Prague High Court opens appeals hearing in case of Mostecká Coal managers
Czech news outlets report that a long-running criminal case involving the privatisation of the Mostecká Coal Company (MUS) entered a new phase on 8 September: Prague High Court began considering appeals filed against the previous non-final judgment.
That judgment imposed prison sentences of 7.5 and six years on former managers of the mining company, Antonio Koláček and Oldřích Klimecký, for fraud and abuse of position. The court simultaneously banned them from managing companies, ordered the confiscation of frozen hundreds of millions of crowns, and imposed an obligation to compensate the state for damage valued at 2.37 billion crowns. Both men deny guilt.
The prosecution argues that the managers covertly controlled the company before its sale: they drained money from it under the pretext of investing it abroad, then waited for share prices to fall and purchased the Czech state's stake from the government at a significantly lower price. The sale of the state stake was unanimously approved by Miloš Zeman's government in 1999.
Koláček maintains that he and his colleagues restructured and stabilised the company. According to him, the state knew to whom it was selling its stake, or simply did not care because it wanted to be rid of it. The manager is now also challenging the credibility of some evidence.
A total of 14 parties filed appeals — in addition to Koláček, Klimecký, and a third defendant, former deputy minister of industry Robert Sýkora, the state prosecutor, joint-stock company Czech Coal Services as injured party, and nine other involved parties. The High Court is currently planning for eight hearing days.
The non-final judgment was delivered three years ago. The sixty-seven-year-old Koláček has repeatedly criticised the length of proceedings and appeared in person for the main hearing — in contrast to the eighty-six-year-old Klimecký.
Source: České noviny