Pátek 29. března 2024, svátek má Taťána
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Lidovky.cz

Swiss repeat attack on Czech authorities in rejection of MUS appeal

  14:42

Czech appeal to join Swiss MUS criminal proceedings brings forth similar complaints about late and shoddy treatment of Swiss cooperation approaches

Ministr financí Miroslav Kalousek říká, že právníci jeho úřadu teď připravují civilní žalobu, kterou by se Česká republika připojila ke švýcarskému trestnímu řízení. foto: © ČTK, ČESKÁ POZICEČeská pozice

Swiss authorities have given a definitive “no” to Czech attempts to join their criminal proceedings against former managers of mining company Mostecká uhelná společnost (MUS), apparently citing similar reasons to the first refusal.

A spokeswoman for the Swiss Court (Tribunal Federal Penal (TFP)) confirmed to Czech Position Thursday that it had rejected an appeal from the Czech state to join in the pending criminal proceedings against six Czechs and one Belgian suspected of having siphoned off company cash from the mining company and engaged in money laundering and fraud.

Swiss authorities have frozen around Kč 12 billion found in local bank accounts and which are believed to be linked to the activities of the MUS suspects. A belated Czech attempt to join the Swiss criminal case looked like the best way of reclaiming some of that cash which Swiss authorities believe belongs rightfully to the Czech state.

State shambles

The Swiss court rejected a first attempt by the Czech state to join the criminal case at the end of last year, saying that Czechs had waited far too long to do so and treated Swiss authorities, which had encouraged them to act, in a shoddy way. A picture has since emerged of laxity, chaos, and confusion in Czech handling of ever more insistent Swiss calls for cooperation with the Czech Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Justice, state prosecution services, and Finance Ministry, headed by Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) all appearing to bear some of the blame for the botched job. After earlier institutional confusion who was doing what, the Finance Ministry is now in charge of the Czech steps with regard to the MUS case.

The court spokeswoman refused to give the reasons for its latest refusal of the Czech appeal to join the criminal case, saying that it would be published this week or next. But local Swiss papers have carried the grounds for ruling out Czech hopes of lining up in court alongside Swiss state prosecutors for proceedings due to take place this year.

According to a copy of the appeal decision acquired by the Swiss paper Le Temps, the TFP’s appeal court has basically repeated the first finding that Czech authorities missed the boat when they initially failed to apply in time to join the criminal proceedings.

‘The appellant [the Czech Republic] has committed a sufficient enough fault to be excluded from any restitution of the deadline.’

“Having had all the necessary and required information to put itself forward as a complainant and having failed to do so on time and within the delay, the appellant [the Czech Republic] has committed a sufficient enough fault to be excluded from any restitution of the deadline,” the court ruled, according to the appeal decision obtained by the paper.

Le Temps recalled that Czech authorities had only sought to join the criminal proceedings a month after the deadline for doing so had closed, apparently spurred on to action by the indignant reports about their inactivity in the local press. It added that none of the individuals charged and awaiting trial in Switzerland face similar charges or proceedings in the Czech Republic in spite of the massive sums of money that appear to be at stake.

The best bet for Czech authorities now to salvage something from the Swiss proceedings, and six year investigation piloted by the local federal prosecutor in what has been described as one of the most complicated probes it has ever conducted, would appear to be to launch civil proceedings over the affair. That is likely to be very costly compared with the ease of tagging along with the Swiss criminal proceedings from Prague has now be definitively excluded.

The Czech state control of MUS was lost at the end of the 1990s with company managers at the time playing a key role in the process and later, apparently, seeking to profit from their newly gained prize.

The court spokeswoman told Czech Position that a definite date for the MUS trial had still not been set.

 

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