Police charge seven in Mostecka privatization fraud

Police have concluded an investigation into suspected fraud in the privatization of the Czech Republic’s largest coal mining company Mostecka Uhelna. Charges will be brought against seven people including four former managers. While the Czech police was unable to bring the case to court earlier, Swiss investigators assembled sufficient evidence against the company’s former managers to prosecute. They received prison sentences from 16 months to 4 years. The damage incurred to the Czech Republic has been estimated at around two billion crowns.