The case, which apparently came under CEZ subsidies, is set to be a major tax evasion
NCOZ spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej has now informed that six individuals, four men and two women, and one legal entity have been prosecuted for tax cuts and money laundering. He did not give further details, but according to the available information, there should be a Prague company: a production, marketing, and media agency that specializes in both advertising and events. The offenses mentioned by the spokesman are punishable by five to ten years’ imprisonment.
The case attracts extraordinary attention by the fact that it seems to be related to Tuesday’s intervention of criminal investigators at the headquarters of the energy giant ČEZ. The company’s spokesman Ladislav Kříž stated that the police officers came for documents that do not directly relate to the activities of this energy group. Although official sources did not confirm this, it should probably be data concerning financial support for sports or social events by the ČEZ Foundation. Such are, at least, the predominant conjectures in the media space.
Detectives searched CEZ’s headquarters. Company: The investigation does not concern us directly
According to Ibehej, the police officers started working on the case on the basis of their own knowledge, discussed by the working method of the Daňová Kobra team with financial analysts of other state institutions. “The audited group of people was to establish business companies that had high revenues from advertising activities. In order for these companies not to have to pay VAT and income taxes, their representatives had to include in their accounts fictitious invoices of legal entities which, in our opinion, did not carry out any activity, “the spokesman summed up the alleged criminal activity. He stated that a number of bank accounts had been set up to obscure both the origin of the proceeds and the acts themselves, between which financial amounts were transferred. Forensic scientists also mapped cash withdrawals, the total amount exceeding 160 million crowns. “The money collected was then to be returned in cash to the senders, who were to enrich them with reduced taxes,” said Ibehej.
It was on Tuesday, when enough evidence was gathered for the suspicious activities of all persons, the NCOZ police officers struck: according to the spokesman, “they proceeded to carry out criminal proceedings.” In the case under the code name Karma, eight people were detained, six of whom subsequently heard the charges. Five people are being prosecuted at large, and a sixth has been filed for remand in custody. During ten house searches, criminologists provide not only evidence, but also more than four million crowns in cash. The policy also blocked almost three million crowns in bank accounts.