Czech scandal ends in prison terms, 15 years on | beyondbrics

Czech scandal ends in prison terms, 15 years on | beyondbrics:

"

A long-running Czech corruption scandal has ground to a conclusion in Switzerland, with a Swiss court convicting five Czechs and one Belgian for their role in the privatisation of a Czech coal company in the late 1990s.

The Swiss had accused them of money laundering and fraud in a scheme to gain control of Mostecka Uhelna Spolecnost (MUS), now part of Czech Coal, that saw the state-controlled company bought by its managers, financed by the company’s own assets.

A large part of the funds were channelled through Switzerland, prompting Swiss authorities to freeze more than 100 bank accounts containing more than 600m Swiss francs ($658m), according to Swiss court documents. The Swiss investigation began in 2005."

'via Blog this'