Police charge over thirty people with fraud in employee training grants scheme, secure gold worth 20 million
Police and European prosecutors charged 18 individuals and 15 companies with fraudulently obtaining European grants intended for employee training. During raids at more than 30 locations, they secured assets including gold and cash worth approximately 20 million Czech crowns.
Police charge over thirty people with fraud in employee training grants scheme, secure gold worth 20 million
Czech police have uncovered an extensive fraud involving European grants earmarked for employee education, working in cooperation with the Office of the European Public Prosecutor. In the operation, they charged eighteen individuals and fifteen companies, and during house searches secured assets worth approximately 800,000 euros, roughly twenty million Czech crowns.
Investigators established that company managers applied for support from European funds for staff training. The amounts for individual projects ranged from a quarter of a million to two million crowns. However, according to the authorities' suspicions, there was systematic falsification of data. In some cases, allegedly training took place that never happened at all, in others a higher number of participants was reported than actually attended.
Last week, criminal investigators carried out operations at more than thirty addresses. They questioned dozens of people, including witnesses who may have participated in the affected courses. In addition to property in the capital, they secured funds in bank accounts, cash, and also gold bars found during house searches.
The damage caused to the state and the European Union reaches, according to current estimates, at least 6.7 million crowns. The case demonstrates the misuse of structural funds which are intended to serve the improvement of qualifications of the Czech workforce.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)