Czech fugitive Radovan Krejčíř, who fled his homeland to avoid facing charges of conspiracy to murder and was convicted in absentia for tax fraud, will appear in a South African court on Monday to face fraud charges involving an alleged insurance fraud.
A confident Krejčíř told the local radio station Jacaranda News that although he underwent an operation earlier this month — and is taking strong painkillers and antibiotics — he is prepared to appear in court in Johannesburg, saying he was “'born ready.”
The South African state claims Krejčíř faked having terminal bladder cancer in order to collect a ZAR 4.4 million (€455,000) insurance pay-out. He allegedly swapped samples of his blood with another patient suffering from that disease.
South Africa’s elite police unit known as the “Hawks” raided Krejčíř’s house in March where they discovered an alleged “hit list” of people he planned to have killed so that they could not testify against him in various cases.
Included on the list was his Slovak-born urologist Marian Tupy, who in return for testifying against Krejčíř in the insurance fraud case received a suspended sentence. Tupy also testified that the Czech businessman admitted to having killed prominent German businessman Uwe Gemballa, a German “supercar” conversion specialist.
Despite having arrived in South Africa in 2007 on a false passport, Krejčíř managed to fight his extradition to the Czech Republic. The Mail & Guardian reported that the “bodies of people associated with Radovan Krejčíř have been piling up since the Czech fugitive entered South Africa” with the list of his alleged identified victims at five.
He has also been questioned about the slaying in Cape Town of alleged underworld boss Cyril Beeka, Krejčíř’s former business associate who owned a number of strip clubs; Beeka’s name also appeared on the “hit list.”
Krejčíř, who claims his life would be in danger if he returned to the Czech Republic, is applying for political asylum in South Africa. He first fled to the Seychelles to avoid facing charges of conspiracy to murder, counterfeiting, tax evasion, extortion and abduction. Krejčíř was convicted in absentia on charges of tax fraud by the Prague Municipal Court and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
