Criminal complaint filed against Decodom co-owner Gejdoš, who responds in kind
Progressive Slovakia has filed a criminal complaint against Roman Gejdoš for damaging creditors. The co-owner of the bankrupt Decodom is responding with his own criminal complaint against the party.
Decodom's collapse leads to mutual criminal complaints between Gejdoš and Progressive Slovakia
Aktuality.sk reports that the case surrounding the bankruptcy of the Topoľčany furniture manufacturer Decodom has escalated into an open legal conflict between the opposition party Progressive Slovakia and the company's co-owner Roman Gejdoš.
Progressive Slovakia pointed out that Gejdoš — alongside the collapse of Decodom, whose employees were left waiting in vain for their wages to be paid — entered into two new business ventures. These are the e-shop AYAMAX SK, which presents itself as "a place for quick and convenient shopping for things you will actually use", and the company CAVANAGH SK, which is involved in hen farming.
Michal Šimečka's party also noted that both companies acquired real estate and land shortly after their establishment. Specifically, a house and plot with an area of 638 square metres, 12 buildings including manufacturing halls, seven agricultural buildings and six plots with a total area of 6,323 square metres — all unencumbered.
"It is absurd for people not to receive their wages whilst the owner happily establishes new companies and acquires property," the Progressive Slovakia representatives stated. On the basis of these findings, they filed a criminal complaint against Gejdoš on suspicion of damaging a creditor.
Gejdoš: The allegations are false, I am hitting back
The co-owner of Decodom's response did not come with any delay. In a statement delivered to the Aktuality.sk editorial team, Gejdoš categorically rejected all claims made at the Progressive Slovakia press conference.
"The claims that as a manager I acted to the detriment of creditors, or that their interests were damaged, are absolutely without foundation in truth. I am prepared to prove this fact to the relevant authorities," Gejdoš stated. For these "false statements, accusations and wilful damage to the good name" of his person and the company Decodom, he is filing his own criminal complaint and legal action against Progressive Slovakia.
Gejdoš defends his new business activities with factual arguments. He entered into hen farming through the company CAVANAGH SK, according to his own account, approximately a year and a half ago. "Slovakia is losing food self-sufficiency and eggs are among the basic foodstuffs in which we are not self-sufficient. I entered a project to restore a 60-year-old agricultural complex that had been deteriorating for a decade," he explained.
In the case of the e-shop AYAMAX SK, he emphasised that he entered it only as a minority investor. He also rejected the claim that it was a furniture e-shop, as Progressive Slovakia had allegedly characterised it tendentiously.
Previous complaints from employees
Aktuality.sk had already drawn attention to Gejdoš's activities in April. Former factory employees complained that whilst they sat at home without wages and feared for their families' futures, Gejdoš — a member of the Hlas party — devoted himself to political promotion on social networks. "He presents his investments, cooking goulash for the Hlas party, cooking sauerkraut soup in Topoľčany in the town square and similar things," one of the workers described it at the time.
Gejdoš addressed this without apology. "I do not have to account to everyone for creating some activity outside the company for myself. I ask, should I now film a video and cover myself in ashes because the management we hired in 2019 did not save the company as we had imagined," he said.
Damaging a creditor — a serious allegation
According to Gejdoš, damaging a creditor is among the most serious cases of economic crime prosecuted in Slovakia. This is precisely why he insists that he will defend himself by all available means.
"I firmly reject constructions that exploit these projects to accuse me of tunnelling Decodom. Linking these activities to creditor damage places me at the level of persons who are prosecuted in Slovakia for the most serious economic crime, and I cannot accept this. I will do everything to clear my name," he added.
The case has thus taken on the form of a battle in which both sides employ the same legal tool — the criminal complaint. The outcome depends on the assessment by the relevant authorities conducting criminal proceedings.
Source: Aktuality