Court allowed company theft involving millions: state must pay nearly 9 million crowns
Prague registry court transferred the company of a Bratislava lawyer based on forged documents. The Supreme Court ruled that the state will have to pay nearly 9 million crowns.
Forged documents, stolen company and state compensation
Nearly nine million crowns will most likely have to be paid by the Czech state for the failings of Prague's registry court, which transferred the company Rotalix to a person with numerous execution orders based on falsified documents. The archive.hn.cz reports on this.
The Rotalix company was founded in February 2017 by Bratislava lawyer Ivan Lúčan. He deposited 350,000 euros into its account intended for a planned purchase of a flat in Prague. Shortly afterwards, however, he lost both the company and the entire amount: the court transferred it to assembly worker Lukáš Dovrtěl, who at the time was burdened with numerous execution orders.
Police caught Dovrtěl and he was sentenced to imprisonment. The investigation, however, revealed that it was merely a front — the true perpetrators of the fraud remained at large and the stolen money was not found. Dovrtěl demonstrably did not have it.
Lúčan therefore sued the state and demanded compensation for damages. Lower courts initially rejected his claim. However, at the end of August, the Supreme Court sided with the injured lawyer, annulling the decisions of lower courts and opening the way to compensation.
The case casts the functioning of registry courts in an unfavourable light: officials failed to detect the forged documents and thus allowed the transfer of a company with millions in its account to a proxy person. The state now faces an obligation to pay compensation for the damage caused by its failings.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)